TNAG-0532-FCO40-627-Conservation-of-wildlife-in-Hong-Kong-1976 — Page 52

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2. Introduction

2.1

The need to conserve the Deep Bay Marshes, in particular the area known as the Mai Po Marshcs, has been repeatedly brought to the attention of the Government of Hong Kong since the early 1960's (Scott 1964, Talbot and Talbot 1965, Ripley 1966 and many others). In 1958 the Provisional Council for the Use and Conservation of the Countryside described the Deep Bay area and put forward recomm..end- ations for its conservation. The area has been under consideration by the Nature Conservation Sub-Committee since its inception in 1971 and by the Advisory Committee on Recreational Development and Nature Conservation in the New Territories (see particularly Committee Paper No. 20 'Report of the Nature Conservation Sub-Committee on Deep Bay Marshes').

2.2

The Provisional Council recommendations were further emphasised by Webster (1972) who gave details concerning the establishment of a reserve and bird park. The Provisional Council Paper was revised and updated by Webster (1974), as a result of which a resolution was passed at the XVI World Conference of the International Council for Bird Preservation strongly urging the Government to initiate adequate conservation measures in the area (Appendix I).

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The present paper only considers in detail the Mai Po Marshes (Fig. 1) and is, in part, a synthesis of what has been written previously,

2.4

At present the Mai Po Marshes are immediately threatened by a housing development at Tai Shang Wai. The present owners of the site, the Canadian Overseas Development Co. Ltd., have submitted a development scheme for this land to construct an estate of two- storey houses with gardens to house about 30,000 people. The develop- ment scheme will directly affect the Marshes unless controls are placed on access as it is certain that construction workers, and later recidents, will visit the area. Once infilling of the existing fishponds starts, some of the people currently living on the site may move across onto the Marshes.

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Other threats include graphite mining in the area near the Tam Kon Chau Police Post and conversion of the outer mangrove belt into fishponds. There appear to be some 40 'temporary structures' in the area at present covered in the mining licence and the occupants may move cut onto the Marshes if mining continues. An illegal fishpond was found in the outer mangrove belt in March 1974. Should further such pouds be developed in the mangrove the results could be serious, not only to the wildlife of the area, but also in relation to the operation of the kei wais and the biological productivity of the oysterbeds.

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It is considered that immediate action is required if the Marshes are to be conserved as a wildlife refuge for recreation and education, otherwise direct and indirect development will result in the area being totally degraded.

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This paper is intended to assess the ecological value of the Marshes at the present time and to suggest management techniques, both to r. tain the character of the area as well as utilizing it for recreational and cducational purposes.