Marine conservationists have warned that a Singapore-style clampdown on refuse dumping is the only way to prevent Hong Kong's waters becoming a 'dead sea'.
The rising tide of refuse and pollution threatening to swamp the South China Sea will be the focus of a conference hosted by the Hong Kong Marine Conservation Society next weekend.
Open Learning Institute lecturer in environmental studies, Dr Gordon Maxwell, said: 'It is treated not only as a sewer but something worse than that - as a huge marine landfill site.' Toxic contamination of dolphins, deformities in fish and unexplained die-offs in marine culture zones were warning bells that Hong Kong should heed.
'The sea is being asked to do one hell of a lot.
'We want a reappraisal of thinking about the sea as a bottomless pit.' Dr Maxwell said the Government's laissez-faire approach had failed and urged a mass education and enforcement campaign centred on the new marine parks and reserves.
Australia's protected areas had restocked fish populations and Hong Kong's marine parks should be given the chance to do the same.
