Marine research at Hoi Ha Wan put in doubt by City University
A City University decision not to renew the lease of a laboratory at Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park has brought important research to a crossroads.
University scientists have been using the laboratory to construct a system capable of monitoring and predicting underwater marine environmental changes through automated data-buoys. Robots were also being developed to count or even recognise coral fish.
The 30-square-metre Hoi Ha facility in the northeastern New Territories has been jointly operated with WWF Hong Kong under a five-year agreement since 2003. The university has notified the WWF that it will not renew the lease of the Marine Science and Engineering Laboratory. The lease expired at the end of June. The lease has been estimated at about HK$100,000 a year.
Robin Bradbeer, an underwater-robot scientist from the department of electronic engineering in charge of the laboratory, said scientists were still trying to work out ways to continue their 'internationally recognised' research. She said the marine monitoring system could issue advance alerts to the government about what might happen to Hoi Ha Wan's fragile ecosystem in the event of climate changes or fishing pressure.
'I don't care who runs the laboratory as long as we can get access to it,' Dr Bradbeer said. 'But the situation is a bit fluid now.'
She said she knew little of the thinking behind the university's decision to end the lease, but it could have been based on a broader vision of the institution's future development.
'It was the institution's decision,' Dr Bradbeer said. 'I don't know whether the research projects had ever come into their calculation. I was told that they might not fit into the future direction of research under the university's strategic planning.'
A WWF spokeswoman confirmed the university had not renewed its lease 'due to limited interest among the various departments'. But she said the WWF still had a good relationship with the university and both would look for opportunities to collaborate on a 'case-by-case basis'.
The Friends of Hoi Ha Wan, a volunteer resident group, has written to the university's chief urging that the lease be renewed because, the group said, the laboratory had been a good platform for scientific research and educational activities. 'Without the support of academia, we are fearful that Hoi Ha Wan may not receive the protection it deserves and we will lose a precious natural resource forever,' the group said in its letter.
