More than 13 hectares of protected wetlands in Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis mega-development plan have been damaged by “industrial-scale” shrimp farming, NGO Greenpeace has revealed.
Greenpeace said on Monday as early as January, its researchers discovered that 4.3 hectares of traditional fishponds in the wetland near Mai Po had been turned into large areas of aquaculture farms.
In early June, a nine-hectare plot of fish ponds near San Tin’s Sam Po Shue was also converted into “industrial-scale” shrimp farms, the NGO said. The shrimp farms consisted of 39 circular pools and covered an area equal to 13 standard football fields, he added.
Heavy waterproof tarps were used to cover the ground in the areas and large numbers of electricity generators, water purifiers, pipes and construction materials were found scattered across the ground, Greenpeace said.
The use of waterproof tarps will significantly increase the soil temperature and increase the risk of flooding, the NGO said.
He added that his team recorded temperatures of up to 71.5 degrees Celsius in areas covered with tarps, which were 26 degrees higher than the ground with vegetation.
The sites are located within the Sam Po Shue Wetland Conservation Park, a designated The area of 338 hectares under the Northern Metropolis government’s plan, designed to offset ecological losses resulting from development.
Wong Suet-mei, a Greenpeace activist, said the city’s current regulations lack protection for wetlands from the spread of modern seafood farming.
“The government only restricts the use of concrete or water tanks in fishponds, but does not regulate the use of waterproof tarps,” Wong said in the Chinese-language statement. “Excavation and construction works within the Sam Po Shue wetlands do not even need to apply for an environmental impact assessment.”
Greenpeace warned that industrial shrimp farms in the area could threaten local ecology and species, including the Eurasian otter, classified as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The NGO urged the authorities to restore the affected wetlands and enforce regulations targeting industrial aquaculture in the area, while strengthening the legal status of the Sam Po Shue Wetland Conservation Park.
