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Conservation
Hong KongHealth & Environment

Is Hong Kong’s love affair with krill and omega-3 killing our planet?

Green campaigners look to raise awareness on threat to continent’s food chain from Hong Kong consumers

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Bottom of the food chain, krill are an essential part of the Antarctica ecosystem. Photo: AFP
Ernest Kao

For most, the Antarctic is a cold, faraway place, observed from a distance through Planet Earth documentaries and geography textbooks. 

Nothing there seems to matter much to our everyday lives, and yet the health habits of Hong Kong’s residents matter to the southern continent’s sensitive ecosystem.

According to Greenpeace East Asia, a growing demand for krill oil in the city, and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, is threatening to unbalance the delicate food chain that exists in the oceans, and on the land, at the end of the world.
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Environmental campaigner Bonnie Tang Man-lam believes the time has come for Hong Kong to realise the affect some of its consumer habits are having. Tang points to the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which the government is expected to implement soon, as the perfect time to start that conversation.

Greenpeace believes the time has come to raise awareness about krill with Hongkongers. Photo: Handout
Greenpeace believes the time has come to raise awareness about krill with Hongkongers. Photo: Handout
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“Hong Kong is part of this [problem],” Tang said. “We may not have our own fishing vessels catching krill in the Antarctic, but Hong Kong consumes a lot of krill and plays an important role in its trade. We should take the opportunity to raise this concern.”

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