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Hong Kong environmental issues
OpinionLetters

Letters | Make Hong Kong waters safer for whales and other marine animals

  • Readers discuss wild animal protection in Hong Kong, what the Global North has in common with a peacock, and the Peak Tram

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Boats circle the carcass of a whale in the waters of Hong Kong on July 31. Photo: AP
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The tragic demise of a whale last month, following the rescue of three turtles last year, has again highlighted the dangers to large migrating animals in the South China Sea which enter Hong Kong waters, as well as systemic issues with marine conservation.
About 40 per cent of Hong Kong’s land area is designated for habitat protection, compared to less than 5 per cent of our sea area. Given this disparity, and ongoing threats to our rich marine biodiversity, the Hong Kong Marine Protection Alliance is calling for biodiversity hotspots that make up 10 per cent of Hong Kong’s marine area to be gazetted as marine protected areas (MPAs) as soon as possible, and 30 per cent of Hong Kong waters to be gazetted as MPAs by 2030, with an increase in no-take zones where fishing and collecting are not permitted.
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There is also a serious gap in Hong Kong’s marine species conservation. Consider the whale shark, the world’s largest fish. It is classed as endangered on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List due to its declining numbers.

Mainland China, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand have listed it as a protected species. However, it receives no such protection in Hong Kong.

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These harmless giants pass the south of Hong Kong in the summer months, and occasionally venture into our waters. When they do, it often ends in their demise; fishermen are free to capture and kill whale sharks in Hong Kong.

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