Clam Digging and WWF project in Shui Hau Wan

@WWF Hong Kong 

Shui Hau Wan: if you have been there, you cannot forget this unique area with various coastal habitats, including marshes, mangroves intertidal sand and mud flat, boulder shores and rocky shores. 
Due to its varying habitat features, it supports a relatively high biodiversity with more than 180 species recorded, including the “Living Fossils” horseshoe crab.

Shui Hau Wan has become so popular over the years that the entire shore area on weekends and holidays is teeming with hundreds of visitors, primarily there to collect clams

Unregulated clam digging can lead to juvenile horseshoe crabs being trampled and may change the composition and density of the benthic community structure and the availability of prey. Large Asiatic hard clams here have all but disappeared due to this unsustainable activity. 

@ WWF Hong Kong 

The ECF Sustainable Shui Hau project, initiated by WWF in 2018 with support from the government’s Environment and Conservation Fund and the Environmental Campaign Committee, aims to preserve the high ecological value of Shui Hau and lower human disturbance from ecotourism and encourage the long-term sustainable use of coastal resources.

Under this project, WWF will train and mobilise volunteer teams to conduct ecological surveys at Shui Hau, with support from team scientists.  

To raise public awareness of the importance of the Shui Hau mudflats and the impact of clam digging to the environment, free eco-visits will be organised during the weekend till October 2019. In this way WWF aims to educate the public about rethinking the relationship between human and nature.

Under the ECF Sustainable Shui Hau project, WWF launches the first clam conservation management measures in Hong Kong, including a set of Code of Conduct on carrying out responsible clam-digging activities. In addition, WWF has produced clam gauges designed for several clam species. Clam diggers are encouraged to use these gauges to determine small clams that should not be harvested. 

@WWF Hong Kong 

To know more:

https://www.wwf.org.hk/en/whatwedo/oceans/advocating_for_more_marine_protected_areas/code_of_conduct_for_clam_digging_activities/

https://www.wwf.org.hk/en/whatwedo/oceans/advocating_for_more_marine_protected_areas/clam_gauge/