THE Government has been accused of waiting until it is too late to assess the total environmental impact of dredging on Hongkong's waters, particularly in light of recent plans to dredge sand from the East Lamma Channel.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said assessments were currently done in isolation on a per-project basis and the overall impact of dredging in several areas at the same time would not be considered until it was too late.
The Planning, Environment and Lands Branch yesterday said a report on the overall impact would be ready by the middle of next year and it would not be decided until then what, if anything, would be done.
But the WWF's marine conservation officer, Ms Jo Ruxton, said coral and fishing grounds would be destroyed in the meantime at several places around the territory.
''Unless something is done right now, it will be too late. There won't be any coral left and the fish will be gone,'' she said.
''They will be looking at environmental impact studies on an environment that no longer exists.'' Dredging around the Ninepins Islands has already destroyed the coral and fishing ground there and went ahead without a proper environmental impact assessment.