My love for animals began through watching wildlife documentaries when I was a kid. I went on to study Environmental Science at university, and became interested in marine(海洋的)biology when I did my master's degree. That's when I realised that there was a possibility to do more for Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, many people would associate marine life only with seafood, and few people would consider it as a part of nature to be appreciated. Although our marine life is highly diverse, our waters have been overfished for more than 40 years. Records show that, decades ago, Hong Kong had such high production of seafood that it supported about 90% of the local demand. Today, at least 90% of the seafood we eat has to be imported to meet local demand, as our waters are so overfished that they can no longer support the local appetite.
Despite this shift, we are still a city in love with seafood-according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Hong Konng has the second highest annual seafood consumption per capita (人均)in Asia-but consumers are barely aware of where their seafood comes from and which species are threatened.
There is a lot of room for improvement in Hong Kong. Improving local fishery management policies and increasing the coverage of Marine Protected Areas, as well as conducting the relevant research to inform decisions, could move the city towards greater sustainability in this area. And consumers should avoid eating seafood that is on the threatened species list. As a general rule of thumb, if people are not sure what the species is, they should choose something else that they are more familiar with.
With the marine ecosystem already weak and easily destroyed, the greatest threat is continued ignorance and inaction. It is time for us to show that we can also be a part of the solution. If each person plays their part - even for just one meal a day-Hong Kong would already be on its way to making considerable progress towards sustainable seafood consumption.