Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:45:42.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Hong Kong Sea-shore — an Environment in Crisis*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Brian S. Morton
Brian S. Morton
Affiliation:
Reader in Marine Biology, Department of Zoology, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Hong Kong comprises an area of some 400 square miles (1,036 km2) and a population of 4.5 million people largely living in an urban and city complex centred around a magnificent natural harbour. Such an urbanized community, hemmed in by mountains, is separate from the hitherto rural remainder of Hong Kong.

The geographical position of Hong Kong, lying as it does on the borders of the temperate and tropical zoogeographic regions, when correlated with a local diversity of geomorphological and hydrological eccentricities, creates a fascinating assemblage of littoral biotic communities within a small area. The expanding urban area, however, resulting from a population growth that is confidently expected to reach 5.5–6.5 millions by 1991, is encroaching into the rural and coastal areas.

The demand for low-lying flat land has resulted in official and unofficial reclamations, initially of soft shores which are of significant archaeological and ethnological interest. The same shores constitute Hong Kong's countryside, but people bathe in waters that are grossly polluted by human and agricultural effluents, so that coliform bacterial counts in excess of 106 per 100 ml have been recorded. Squatter huts still dot Hong Kong's coastline despite massive rehousing projects, and shellfish are widely collected. Moreover, oysters are cultivated and not cleansed prior to resale.

No coastal parks, conservation areas, reserves, or even a coastal code, actually exists. The sea-shore is not used as an ‘open-air laboratory’, nor as an educational tool except at the tertiary level.

In such a community the sea-shore demands special attention, and in a world that is approaching urbanization as a way of life, Hong Kong, as a microcosm of south-east Asia, offers a case in point and a lesson in survival.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , Winter 1976 , pp. 243 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bard, S. M. (1967). A survey of prehistoric sites in the Hong Kong region. Pp. 29–39 in A Symposium on Historical, Archaeological and Linguistic Studies (Ed. Drake, F. S.). Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, 388 pp.Google Scholar
Bard, S. M. & Meacham, W. (1973). Preliminary report on a site at Sham Wan, Lamma Island, Hong Kong. Asian Perspectives, 15, pp. 113–26.Google Scholar
Chan, J. P., Cheung, M. T. & Lau, F. P. (1973). Determination of lead and zinc content in drain water around the industrial areas of Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories. J. Sc. Eng., Hong Kong Baptist College, 1, pp. 9–14.Google Scholar
Chan, J. P., Cheung, M. T. & Li, F. P. (1974). Trace metals in Hong Kong waters. Mar. Poll. Bull., 5, pp. 171–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cremer, & Warner, [firm] (1973). Proposed Refinery-Petrochemical Complex on Lamma Island, Environmental Feasibility Study. The Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Davis, S. G. & Tregear, M. (1960). Man Kok Tsui, Archaeological Site 30, Lantau Island, Hong Kong. Asian Perspectives, 4, pp. 183–212.Google Scholar
Family Planning Association of Hong Kong (1974). Proceedings of the World Population Year Programme in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: 103 pp.Google Scholar
Kueh, C. S. W. & Chan, K. Y. (1975). The distribution of heterotrophic Bacteria related to some indicators of marine pollution in Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong. Pp. 95–9 in Proceedings of the Pacific Science Association Special Symposium on Marine Sciences, Hong Kong, 1973, 164 pp.Google Scholar
Kueh, C. S. W. & Trott, L. B. (1974). A preliminary bacteriological examination of water and shellfish in Shatin Hoi, Hong Kong. Chung Chi Journal, 12, pp. 79–84.Google Scholar
Leung, C., Morton, B. S., F., Shortridge K. & Wong, P. S. (1975). The seasonal incidence of faecal Bacteria in the tissues of the commercial oyster Crassostrea gigas Thunberg 1793 correlated with the hydrology of Deep Bay, Hong Kong. Pp. 114–27 in Proceedings of the Pacific Science Association Special Symposium on Marine Sciences, Hong Kong, 1973, 164 pp.Google Scholar
Morton, B. S. (1975). Pollution of Hong Kong's commercial oyster-beds. Mar. Poll. Bull., 6, pp. 117–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morton, B. S. & Shortridge, K. F. (1976). Coliform Bacteria levels correlated with the tidal cycle of feeding and digestion in the Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) cultured in Deep Bay, Hong Kong. Proc. Nat. Shellfish. Ass., 6, pp. 78–83.Google Scholar
Morton, B. S. & Twentyman, P. R. (1971). The occurrence and toxicity of a red tide caused by Noctiluca scintillans (Macartney) Ehrenb., in the coastal waters of Hong Kong. Environ. Research, 4, pp. 544–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morton, B. S. & Wu, R. S. S. (1975). The hydrology of the coastal waters of Hong Kong. Environ. Research, 10, pp. 319–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Preston, J. R. (1975). An account of investigations carried out into marine pollution control needs in Hong Kong with particular reference to the existing and future urban centres centred about Victoria and Tolo Harbours. Pp. 91–4 in Proceedings of the Pacific Science Association Special Symposium on Marine Sciences, Hong Kong, 1973, 164 pp.Google Scholar
Talbot, L. M. & Talbot, M. H. (1965). Conservation of the Hong Kong Countryside. The Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Thompson, G. B. (1976). Report on marine pollution problems in Hong Kong. Proceedings of the International Workshop on Marine Pollution in East Asian Waters, Penang, Malaysia, April 1976, pp. 1–25 (preprint).Google Scholar
Thrower, L. B. (1975). The making of Hong Kong's landscape. Human Ecology and Hong Kong: Report of a Conference held in Hong Kong, 1972. Commonwealth Foundation Occasional Paper No. 31, pp. 34–41.Google Scholar
Trott, L. B. (1972). Marine ecology in Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong. Chung Chi Journal, 11, pp. 26–32.Google Scholar
Trott, L. B. & Fung, A. Y. C. (1973). Marine pollution in Hong Kong. Mar. Poll. Bull, 4, pp. 13–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, J. P. & Watson, D. M. (1971). Marine Investigations into Sewage Discharges, Report and Technical Appendices. The Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong: 72 pp.Google Scholar
Watts, J. C. D. (1973). Further observations on the hydrology of the Hong Kong territorial waters. Hong Kong Fish. Bull., 3, pp. 9–35.Google Scholar
Williamson, G. R. (1970). Hydrology and weather of the Hong Kong fish-grounds. Hong Kong Fish. Bull., 1, pp. 43–81.Google Scholar