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Dear friends,
People of Hong Kong love the nature and the natural enviroment around Hong Kong, the Islands and the beaches.
We visit today a part of the Wetlands of Hong Kong in the New Territories. The weather is great again, but the huminity is very high. Around 86%! (MISSING)
Information privided by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department of Hong Kong. Thanks a lot for using the information in our Travelblog.
General Information about Wetland. What are Wetlands
Wetlands are areas where water is the primary factor controlling the ecosystem. They occur in areas where the water meets the land. In general, wetlands cover a wide variety of natural habitat types including rivers and streams, freshwater or brackish marshes, intertidal areas at estuaries and mangroves. In addition, there are human-made wetlands such as fish and shrimp ponds, irrigated agricultural land, farm ponds, reservoirs and drainage canals.
[b}Why conserve wetlands?
Wetlands are among the world's most productive environments. The interactions of physical, chemical and biological components of a wetland enable it to perform vital functions in ecosystems and the well-being of human communities in general.
Ecological value:
They are cradles of biological diversity supporting countless species of plants and animals, in particular waterfowls, by providing food, breeding and nursery grounds.
Functional value:
They also perform vital functions including water storage, flood control, erosion control, shore stabilization and water purification through retention of sediments and filtering out pollutants, climate stabilization etc.
Economic and amenity values:
Wetlands provide economic benefits, for example, fish farming in aquacultural ponds and wet agricultural activities. They also provide recreation, amenity and landscape opportunities.
Wetlands in Hong Kong. Most of the wetlands in Hong Kong are found in the northwestern New Territories. They include streams & rivers, natural marshes, mangroves, intertidal mudflat, as well as artificial fishponds, gei wais and reservoirs. These wetlands have ecological, functional and also amenity values.
Mai Po Wetlands - a very special place to visit.
Please note that you have to call the visitcenter 24 hours before your visit The Ramsar Site is a natural shallow estuarine bay lying within the Yuen Long Basin. The average water depth is about 2.9 m and the mean tidal range is 1.4m.
Inner Deep Bay receives water and sediments from both Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The sediment forming the core part of the intertidal mudflat is predominantly clay and silt.
The climate of Hong Kong is sub-tropical and under the strong influence of monsoons. Rainfall occurs mainly from April to September. Salinity of the intertidal water shows a clear trend dependent on the seasonality. During the wet season from late spring to summer, salinity drop and sometimes almost freshwater due to the increase in rainfall, the values tend to increase from late summer and approach highest in winter/early spring during the dry season.
The site helps to alleviate flood problems in the northwest of the territory and the mangal are of value in stabilizing the shore of the bay.
Wetland Types:
A shallow bay with extensive intertidal mudflats backed by mangal, tidal shrimp ponds (gei wais), fishponds, and reedbed (Phragmites australis) in some gei wais and along the coast.
Mangroves:
The major species of mangroves are:
Kandelia obovata
Avicennia marina
Aegiceras corniculatum
Bruguiera gymnorhiza
Excoecaria agallocha
Acrostichum auerum
The major mangrove associate is:
Acanthus ilicifolius
Waterfowls:
The Ramsar Site supports a high diversity of birds. About 300 species, representing about 70% of the Hong Kong birds, have been recorded there. The Site regularly supports over 100, 000 waterbirds for the whole year and some 50,000 waterbirds in mid-winter. It is an important feeding and resting ground for wintering and migratory birds, including a number of globally threatened species (e.g. Black-faced Spoonbill, Saunders's Gull and Imperial Eagle). In January 2005, about 61,000 waterbirds are recorded.
Land ownership and uses of the Site:
The majority of the site is government land, but most fishponds have been leased or licenced to operators engaged in fish farming. This is the only place in Hong Kong where gei wais (intertidal shrimp ponds) are in operation.
Main activities at the site are nature conservation, scientific research, nature education and ecotourism, bird watching and nature appreciation, fish farming, and small-scale rural settlement.
In the surroundings, there are brackish/freshwater fishponds, open storage, and residential area. The Hong Kong Wetland Park (HKWP) located at the northern part of Tin Shui Wai adjacent to the Ramsar site is a 64 hectares nature-based theme park. The HKWP project upgrades the originally intended
ecological mitigation area into a conservation, education and eco-tourism facility for local residents and overseas visitors. The Phase 1 of the Park has been operational since 2000 and the whole project is scheduled for completion in early 2006.
So far the information about the Wetlands of Hong Kong.
Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for more travelexperiences.
From Hong Kong with love.
Monkey and Bear.
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Monkey and Bear
Studio 21
Miao People
Hello Monkey and Bear! (I love your display name by the way!) I was going through random blogs to see if I could find any blogs including travels through Miao villages, and I did when I found your blog! I am so excited! I was hoping that you could share your experience in the Miao villages with me. I will be participating in a study abroad to Sichuan University through my university here in the United States. I am Hmong, but in China we are known as Miao. Anyways I will be visiting Miao villages while I am there, but it would be very helpful to know about your experience and I hope to get a few tips from you. Also, I was wondering if you knew when big festivals take place in the Miao villages that you visited. Thank you so much for your time. I hope to hear from you soon. - Malissa Xiong ==============