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Hongkong Conservation Photography

Foundation

MARINE RUBBISH

REPORT

Edward Stokes

2001

TEL / FAX 2555 1327

CLEAR WATER 2001

Hong Kong ’s harbour, channels and coasts

are central to its history; to its sense of place;

to its international image; and to its tourist income.

Hong Kong has large, highly visible amounts of marine rubbish: ﬂoating in typhoon

shelters and boat anchorages; drifting in Victoria Harbour and inshore channels;

and washed up on otherwise beautiful coasts.

For commercial vessels, particularly fast ferries, marine rubbish causes trouble, cost, and

sometimes danger. Marine rubbish is also extremely unsightly. It affects the appearance of

typhoon shelters, the harbour, channels and coasts. It damages tourist impressions of HK,

leading to indirect economic losses.

Solving the “lap sap problem” at source requires years of commercial and public

education, especially with the ﬁshing ﬂeet. (Photo surveys of channel and coastal rubbish

show that much of it comes from local ﬁshing vessels.)

But, given the economic and aesthetic costs of marine rubbish, the SAR cannot afford to

wait for education to bring long-term results. And even with education, I-H('s dense

population means that the problem may always be with us.

Floating and shore marine rubbish, however, is much less of a problem than may appear at

ﬁrst sight. Photo surveys show that much of the rubbish is extremely weathered and old; it

is often concentrated in localized areas; and winds and the tides can be exploited in

effective clean-up strategies. The key to success is to trial, design, build and then operate

task-speciﬁc vessels. At present, all the govemment clean-up vessels are “compromises”,

inadequate to the task.

It is essential to develop effective clean-up vessels for HK, so our channels and coasts

can be kept as they should be — superb natural waterways, free of unsightly and

degrading rubbish.

This will be best achieved by business groups acting in partnership with government,

perhaps by business groups funding the development of effective vessels. Preferably,

these would then be operated by private enterprise, to ensure the most cost-effective

results.

Strongly promoted, eﬂectively cleaning HK's waters could give

major impetus to other territory-wide clean-up strategies —

ideally linked to the SAR entering the new millennium.

Edward Stokes

Hong Kong Conservation Photography Foundation

A NEW BEGINNING

‘CLEAR WATER 2001'

The removal of marine rubbish is handled by the Marine Department. This

may seem to make sense, because its personnel are expert with vessels.

Most marine rubbish originates from, or nearby, the land -- as is evident in

HK and as has been proven elsewhere. Hence, marine rubbish is not so

much a ‘marine’ problem as a 'waste' problem; and its solution should be in

part the responsibility of waste disposal experts.

The Marine Department (MD) need not be held responsible for poor rubbish

collection, as its priority must be the safe operation of I—lK's extremely busy port.

Instead, marine nlbbish should be handled by the Environmental Protection

Department -- or it should be fully privatised tmder EPD's supervision.

The government’s tiny Waterwitches are outdated, and could be disposed of.

The MD’s six relatively new ‘Sea Cleaners‘, together worth about $60 million,

could be bought out -- and the MD ﬁnancially compensated. These vessels are

inadequate as channel cleaners.

The establishment of an 'environment‘ bureau is a timely opportunity to make

this change. By bringing the matter forward now, it can be incorporated from the

outset into plans / budget for the bureau, increasing operational effectiveness.

Given careful thought, integrated management, and resolve, HK's marine

rubbish situation could be reversed with more speed and impact than any

other local environmental problem.

The highly visible results of a new, successful marine rubbish programme,

premised on effective vessels, would bring major 'environment PR ' gains. This

would boost the image of the new bureau; and it would help raise wider

community awareness concerning the environment.

MARINE RUBBISH -- AGE & DISTRIBUTION

The large amount of marine rubbish seen in HK waters, especially in very

visible areas, suggests an overwhelming problem. This in part explains the

apparent defeatism and inaction concerning the issue.

AGE OF MARINE RUBBISH

Much of the marine rubbish, especially that seen around typhoon shelters, rocky

coasts and coves, is extremely old. This is evident from its extensive weathering,

old oil staining etc; and from the fact that many such places have never before

been systematically cleaned.

If ad hoc methods (sampans / ﬁshing boats) were employed to remove much of

this aggregation of old rubbish, the future task will be much smaller than now

appears. Thus, in the medium- and long-term, relatively few specialized vessels

will be needed to achieve dramatically improved waterway amenity.

DISTRIBUTION OF MARINE RUBBISH

The origins of marine rubbish are only generally known. One study has shown

that relatively little comes down stormwater drains (using grilles to catch this is

impractical, as the clogged plastics would cause back-ﬂooding). Much certainly

comes ﬁom the ﬁshing ﬂeet; some from other vessels; and other causes.

Nonetheless, general observation (especially after heavy rain) clearly indicates

that the vast majority is ‘land orginated'. That is, it comes from human activity

around the land, not from human activity in the channels.

Winds and tides strongly affect rubbish distribution. Rubbish often collects into

‘rafts’, and concentrated rubbish slicks gradually cross channels until ﬁnally

washing ashore. Winds predominate in distributing surface debris. Tides

predominate with submerged and semi-submerged rubbish (such as plastic).

Thus, clean-up vessels can be used as 'rubbish barriers’. For example, were a

vessel to run (two or three times per week) through Aberdeen fairway, closely

follow the coast to Green Island, cross over to Lamma (intercepting wind driﬁ

rubbish), continue past Lamma, and return to Aberdeen -- the vast majority of

the rubbish that now fouls the NE Lamma coast would never reach there.

MARINE RUBBISH - THREE AREAS

Depending on its actual location, marine rubbish presents different clean-

up problems. Hence, to effectively clean HK's waters and coasts, vessels

must be task-speciﬁc. Rubbish is found in three distinct kinds of area, as

outlined below:

1. Typhoon Shelters and Boat Anchorages

The rubbish is often trapped between boats or by breakwaters.

Clean-up boats must be small and highly manoeuvrable, and able to

gather up‘ isolated patches of rubbish -- ‘anchorage scavengers’.

2. Victoria Harbour and Inshore Channels

Rubbish driﬂs with the winds & tides; much of it is half-submerged.

Clean-up boats can manoeuver easily, but they must cover large areas,

have wide 'sweeping' and large ‘bins’ -- ‘channel sweepers’.

3. Rocky Coasts and Coves

This rubbish is mostly polystyrene and plastic. Clean-up boats must

be shallow-draught, able to manouvere close inshore, and equipped

with overhanging working gear -- ‘coast pickers’.

Each of these three areas requires a task-speciﬁc kind of vessel.