Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Report

Hill Fires
In 2004, there were 67 hill fires across 371 hectares of area with 50,000 trees damaged within or adjacent to country parks. While the number of hill fires was similar to that of the past two years, there were a few serious hill fires causing rather extensive damage. The hill fire at Pat Sin Leng Country Park in December 2004 alone burned 105 hectares of land and 11,500 trees. To save the areas damaged by hill fires, tree seedlings will be planted at suitable sites this year.

Tree Planting
Some 1,051,000 seedlings were planted in 2003-04, an increase of 17% over 2002-03, when just 899,000 seedlings were planted.

More native species, such as Schima superba, Machilus breviflora and Liquidambar formosana, were also planted. Between 2003-04, approximately 56% of the plants were native species. Seedlings of native species were intentionally planted within plantations of exotic species to enrich their species diversity and ecological value.

Ecological Baseline Survey in Country Parks
The ecological baseline surveys continued throughout 2003-05. The encouraging findings of the survey include the sighting of Small Yellow Sailer (Neptis miah) in Tai Mo Shan Country Park, the first recording in Hong Kong. The White-banded Awl (Hasora taminatus) and Common Yeoman (Cirrochroa tyche) were also found in country parks after both being absent from local records for nearly half a century. The discovery of an over-wintering site for thousands of Danaid butterflies in Lantau South Country Park echoed the importance of conserving local habitats.

Bird Nest Box
Since 2000, 1,300 nest boxes have been placed in country parks to attract hole-nesting birds for their nests. These artificial nest boxes function as supplementary tree holes. Surveys show that breeding pairs of Collared Scops Owl, Asian Barred Owlet, Great Tit and Magpie Robin occupied more than 20% of these wooden boxes. In 2004, the Departnent observed Collared Scops Owl hatching their chicks, and the Asian Barred Owlet and Great Tit feeding their chicks inside these artificial nests. All these features were successfully captured on video, providing valuable biological information for further evaluation on the behaviour of these birds.

Management of Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park
During the time of SARS in 2003, many people went to country and marine parks for leisure and recreation. The Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park, located next to Hoi Ha Village, became a hotspot for local visitors, receiving twice as many people as the year before. The number of visitors in April and May 2003 doubled those of the same period in 2002, reaching 15,700 and 17,600 respectively.

An increase in visitors put pressure on the local ecology and the rural community. A number of emergency measures were taken to address these problems, including increased patrolling; volunteers to assist visitors as well as the provision of guided walks and publication of educational materials. Law enforcement was added and strict traffic control was put in place at Hoi Ha Wan to help deal with the sharp rise in visits.

Coral Protection in Marine Parks
In March 2004, damaged coral was discovered. The coral is thought to have been destroyed by a large vessel. Upon consulting relevant departments and the Marine Parks Committee, an Inboard Vessel Prohibited Zone within the Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park in June 2004 was established to prohibit large inboard vessels from entering shallow, coral sites. The Department also arranged meetings with vessel operators alerting the vessel masters to the coral sites. After examining the extent of coral damage, a restoration project was carried out and completed in October 2004 with satisfactory results.

Mechanized Vessels Prohibited Zones Established
The AFCD has set up three Mechanized Vessels Prohibited Zones to separate the sampans from the water to minimize possible injuries. Consultations with residents of Hoi Ha and sampan operators were made on this proposal. Although the establishment of the Mechanized Vessels Prohibited Zones along the main beach might bring inconvenience to the residents, they support the proposal to ensure safety for visitors and residents. The Department also provided facilities like mooring buoys and waiting areas to better control vessel movement within the marine park.

Treating Nature with Respect
In October 2004, the department launched a major public educational programme titled, "Treating Nature with Respect". The activities were divided into three phases. The first phase was public hiking, in which 5,000 citizens took part. Among them, 1,200 participants earned a password for the second phase – "The Online Game Nature Quiz". 120 winners were invited to participate in the last phase which involved a series of eco-tours called, "Meeting the Experts". The winners of each game were awarded prizes, and the programme was well received by the public.

School Visit Programme
In an effort to increase a child's understanding and appreciation of nature, park wardens visited kindergartens and primary schools with information and activities that best suited the age group. This is a year-round programme, enabling staff to make direct contact with close to 9,000 students across more than 60 schools. Through this programme, the Department is able to educate students and boost awareness of nature conservation in a direct manner.

Workshops for Teachers and Networking
Ten training workshops covering a wide range of nature subjects were arranged for teachers from 2003-05. Experts were invited to share their experiences on various nature themes such as hiking safety, ecology, geography, fung shui woodland, photography and story writing.

In 2004, the Department conducted a series of forums with headmasters and teachers of kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools to exchange experiences and expectations of nature education. Representatives from 56 schools voiced their expectations and provided valuable suggestions. These suggestions helped the Department design educational and publicity programmes.

"HKNature.net" Website Revamped
A new and improved HKNature.net is now online to support teachers and students and promote nature conservation to the public. A special webpage – the Hong Kong Nature Education Resource Centre – provides teachers and students with a wide range of self-guided nature education information.

Territory-wide Primary School Online Quiz
To encourage primary school students to use online resources of HKNature.net, the department organized a territory-wide Primary School Online Quiz together with the Friends of the Country Parks, Cosmos Books and Ming Pao. The quiz was held in January 2005. Contestants were challenged with questions on animals, plants, marine life, country parks and countryside safety hints featured in HKNature.net, and other general knowledge about nature. This event was well supported by 780 students from 156 primary schools.

Marine Conservation Education Programme
The department organized a number of marine conservation education activities targeting various sectors of the community. In the past two years, the Department organized 500 public ecotours; 21 public seminars; 13 beach cleanup activities; 21 school lectures; and two exhibitions attracting more than 25,000 participants.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Park wardens patrolled country parks on a regular basis to provide visitor services and to enforce the Country Parks Ordinance and related legislations. In 2003-05, 1,966 offenders were prosecuted with fines reaching $1,930,140. Detailed statistics are in Appendix 13. Under the Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Ordinance (Cap. 570), the penalty has been raised to $1,500 since June 2003. Some 1,184 offenders have been caught for littering, spitting and dog fouling and prosecuted with Fixed Penalty Notices over the past two years. Park wardens often conduct special operations such as searching for illegal animal traps and assisting the police in identifying the hide-outs of illegal immigrants in the countryside. Joint operations with the police have often been arranged to combat crimes involving robbery, illegal felling of Buddhist Pines and Incense Trees in country parks. To help visitors keep track of where they are along the paths of country parks, 2,500 markers have been placed throughout.

Meanwhile, marine park wardens patrolled marine parks and reserve on a daily basis at irregular hours. They pay special attention toward stopping illegal fishing activities and other offences within marine parks. Close liaison is also maintained with the Marine Police as well as the Fisheries Authority of Shenzhen to combat illegal fishing by mainland fishermen in marine parks. Wardens also give advice or warnings to visitors and make prosecutions when necessary. In the past two years, 325 prosecutions were made with fines of $377,400.

MARINE CONSERVATION

Reef Check
The Department put a series of measures and programmes in place to protect important habitats and species, and to conserve marine biodiversity in Hong Kong. Marine areas of high ecological importance have been designated as Marine Parks and Marine Reserves. The Department also coordinates the annual Reef Check with the Reef check Foundation. Over the past two years, more than 30 teams participated in the Reef Check each year on a voluntary basis. The findings provided the Department with valuable information on the coral condition and also enabled the Department to take appropriate action in protecting local corals where necessary.

In the annual Reef Check 2004, 33 coral sites were surveyed. More than 330 divers took part, and this was the highest record in terms of both survey sites and participants since the Reef Check was first launched in Hong Kong in 1997. 21 out of 33 coral sites recorded high coral cover (i.e. >50%) and the growth of corals at all sites were stable. Results of the Reef Check were publicized to raise public awareness surrounding the current marine environment and to seek cooperation in protecting our precious marine resources.

Coral Protection
In view of the success at Ung Kong Wan, a marker buoys system was extended to Port Island and Sharp Island in early 2004 for better protection of coral from anchoring damage. Regular sea patrols and underwater ecological surveys were conducted to monitor the effectiveness of the coral marker buoys in the above areas. The outcome was encouraging. There has been an overall increase in live coral cover in the marker area and damaged corals have shown signs of recovery.

A total of 84 hard coral species from 28 genera of 12 families were identified and confirmed following the completion of a territory-wide coral study commissioned by the Department. To enrich public understanding on the beauty and diversity of coral fauna in Hong Kong, a collection of all 84 specimens of hard corals was put together in April 2004. A new webpage to introduce the diversity, general biology and field characteristics of Hong Kong corals was designed.

Conservation of Marine Mammals
Since 2000, the department has been implementing the Conservation Programme for the Chinese white dolphin. The projects include protection of the species and the habitat, long-term monitoring of the population, investigation of dolphin stranding and promotion of public awareness regarding dolphin conservation. The latter includes public seminars, regular talks to school children and dissemination of information on marine conservation and protection of the Chinese white dolphin.

In 2004, the Department produced a revised code of conduct on dolphin watching. The Department also organised a dolphin ambassador scheme and a dolphin carnival in collaboration with the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society to promote the message of acceptable dolphin watching. More than 100 citizens were trained and appointed as dolphin ambassadors. Some 3,000 people attended the one-day carnival.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT STUDIES

The two marine conservation divisions provide comments and advice on development proposals and projects that might affect the marine environment. They also comment on EIA reports from a marine ecological point-of-view. During the past two years, they were involved in many projects, including the super prison, logistics park, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Tonggu Waterway; the pier development in the New Territories and more.

THE ROLE OF THE COUNTRY AND MARINE PARKS BRANCH