Home to almost 6,000 species, the waters of Hong Kong boast a bountiful biodiversity that instantly contradicts stereotypical notions of the city as just a concrete jungle. Indeed, this number is even more impressive considering that it represents over 25% of China’s marine biodiversity in a territory that accounts for less than 0.03% of the country’s coastline.
A crucial component for the preservation of this richly diverse ecosystem are marine protected areas (MPAs). These are specially designated zones where human activities such as boat traffic, tourism and fishing are regulated or prohibited to varying degrees, allowing habitats the chance to recover and animal and plant populations to replenish and thrive.
Currently, Hong Kong has seven MPAs, six of which are moderately protected marine parks, the other being a fully protected marine reserve. In total, these comprise approximately 40.5km2, or less than 3%, of Hong Kong’s waters. And, while plans are in place to increase that figure to 5% by 2023, it still leaves the territory lagging way behind international standards, where 30% is the benchmark.
Moreover, though fishing is illegal in Hong Kong’s sole marine reserve, and recent legislation will prohibit commercial fishing in all but two of the marine parks by April 2022, there are question marks over whether these measures go far enough to safeguard Hong Kong’s biodiversity, as well as how strictly they are being enforced.
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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/paid-content-how-hong-kong-protects-its-sea-sanctuaries