More than 13 hectares of protected wetlands in Hong Kong’s sprawling Northern Metropolis development plan have been damaged by “industrial-scale” shrimp farming, NGO Greenpeace has found. Large swathes of aquaculture farms inside a protected wetland area in Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis. Photo: Greenpeace. Greenpeace said on Monday that in January, its researchers found 4.3 hectares of traditional fish ponds in the wetland near Mai Po had been turned into large swathes of aquaculture farms.
In early June, a nine-hectare plot of fish ponds near San Tin’s Sam Po Shue was also transformed into “industrial-scale” shrimp farms, the NGO said. The shrimp farms consisted of 39 pools and covered an area equivalent to 13 standard football pitches, it added.
Heavy-duty waterproof tarps were used to cover the soil in the areas, and a large number of electricity generators, water purifiers, pipes and construction materials were found scattered around the land, Greenpeace said.
The use of waterproof tarps will significantly increase ground temperature and raise the risk of flooding, the NGO said.
It added that its team recorded temperatures of up to 71.5 degrees Celsius in areas covered by tarps, which were 26 degrees higher than land with vegetation. Aquaculture farms use waterproof tarps to cover soil in Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis. Photo: Greenpeace. The areas are located inside the Sam Po Shue Wetland Conservation Park, a designated 338-hectare site under the government’s Northern Metropolis plan, established to compensate for the ecological losses resulting from the development.
Wong Suet-mei, a campaigner with Greenpeace, said the city’s current regulations lacked protection for wetlands from the spread of modern seafood farming.
“The government only restricts the use of concrete or water tanks in fish ponds but does not regulate the use of waterproof tarps,” Wong said in the Chinese-language statement. “Digging and construction works inside Sam Po Shue wetlands do not even need to apply for an environmental impact assessment.” Aquaculture farms in Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis, with Shenzhen’s skyline in the background. Photo: Greenpeace. 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 authorities to restore the affected wetlands and implement regulations targeting industrial aquaculture in the area while strengthening the legal status of the Sam Po Shue Wetland Conservation Park.