Longwei Beach

Longwei beach is a natural mudflat located at Ting Kok Road, Tai Po District, Hong Kong, near tuk Long Wei village, Tai Wei. This natural mudflat has not been noticed for a long time. However, since 2007, the civil engineering and development department carried out a consultation procedure on the conversion of the natural mudflat into an artificial one, which immediately led to opposition from environmental protection groups. Among them, the Hong Kong natural ecology forum has launched many ecological surveys conducted by netizens, and the number of organisms found is far more than that found in the previous environmental assessment arranged by the government The number of recorded natural species continued to rise, from 106 species in early 2008 to nearly 200 species in October, including the extremely rare subspecies of the tiger beetle, phronis australis. This event has caused great repercussions and caused reports from different media

Longwei Beach

Longwei beach is a natural mudflat located at Ting Kok Road, Tai Po District, Hong Kong, near tuk Long Wei village, Tai Wei. This natural mudflat has not been noticed for a long time. However, since 2007, the civil engineering and development department carried out a consultation procedure on the conversion of the natural mudflat into an artificial one, which immediately led to opposition from environmental protection groups. Among them, the Hong Kong natural ecology forum has launched many ecological surveys conducted by netizens, and the number of organisms found is far more than that found in the previous environmental assessment arranged by the government The number of recorded natural species continued to rise, from 106 species in early 2008 to nearly 200 species in October, including the rare subspecies of the tiger beetle, phoronis australis. This event has attracted great repercussions and caused reports from different media.

brief introduction

Longwei beach is located on the east coast of Hong Kong, beside Ting Kok Road, near Tai Mei tuk, 431 meters away from which is the Ting Kok mangrove with special scientific value. On the other side of the coast, it is another high ecological value site - Ma Shi Chau special area. Because Longwei beach is adjacent to different high ecological value areas, it also has good conditions to breed different mudflat organisms. The ecological census launched by netizens has found over 100 different types of mudflat organisms.

dispute

Support engineering opinion

Some people who support the conversion of Longwei beach into an artificial beach think that there is a lack of beach facilities in New Territories East, including Sheung Shui, Fanling and Tai Po, while there is only one public swimming pool in Tai Po. They support the conversion of Longwei beach into an artificial beach.

According to Liang Fu, the representative of lucitian village, Longwei beach used to be a natural beach, but the construction of chuanwan freshwater lake in the 1960s was short of sand and stone and sucked away the sea sand from Longwei beach Gradually abandoned to mudflat.

In addition, supporters believe that the habitat of Longwei is of low ecological value. After the implementation of mitigation measures, it is expected that the impact of construction and construction will be small. Therefore, it is the most suitable site for artificial beach in the area.

In addition, these people also pointed out that the fight for the project in the past 20 years should not be hindered by the "rash conclusion" of a small number of environmental protection groups and "ignoring the advice provided by the government's professional consultants and stifling the desire of the residents in Tai Po District and New Territories East for many years".

As for the dispute that the water quality may not be suitable for swimming in the future, supporters pointed out that the water quality could be improved by improving the channel connection rate. After the beach is opened, the environmental protection department will also conduct water quality monitoring to find that the water quality is suitable for swimming.

Objection to engineering opinion

Opposition engineers have found nearly 200 species in Longwei beach, including the subspecies of the tiger beetle (iabroscelis anchoralis) listed as "endangered species" in Japan, < ilaomedia SP < / I, which is listed as endangered in the red list of species in China, < ipardachirus pavoninus < / I, a new record in Hong Kong, and < idiplogrammus Rare species such as Xenicus < / I), rather than only 139 species, as the consultant suggested, Among them, there are only three kinds of endangered species in IUCN, i.e. < ipsammogobius biocellatus < / I, < itakifugu niphobles < / I, < ifavonigobius reichei < / I. The project will make the ecology unable to recover.

In addition, Longwei beach is located next to Ting Kok, a place of special scientific value. In addition, some young fish have been found in Longwei by those who oppose the project. Longwei is likely to be a breeding ground for organisms. Once the project is carried out, it will have an adverse impact on ecological conservation. It may also lead to water pollution and habitat damage, resulting in the reduction of marine products in the nearby waters.

In addition, the water quality of Longwei beach is poor most of the time. According to the data of the environmental protection department, the grade of the beach in the 2007 swimming season is poor, and the water flow in Longwei is weak, so the pollutants need to be discharged for a long time. The poor water quality has the potential to infect swimmers with minor diseases, and the opponents worry that Longwei beach may not be suitable for swimming in the future. However, in the past, the sand loss rate of artificial beaches and sand spreading projects is high. For example, the sand spreading projects of golden beach in Tuen Mun and Changsha beach on Lantau Island have caused serious loss of sea sand. The plan to transform Longwei beach into artificial beach has been accused of wasting taxpayers' money.

Longwei beach is a safe and convenient place for geological and ecological investigation because of its convenient transportation, small waves and certain ecological value (including complete estuary, delta ecology and intertidal Ecology). Once it is converted into an artificial beach, it will lose its good place for educating the public, especially for geography, biology and general education.

On the other hand, Liang Fu, the representative of lucitian village, said that Longwei beach was originally a natural beach. According to the rescue of Longwei on the website, Wu Zhenyang, chairman of the Hong Kong geomorphology and rock Conservation Association, analyzed the aerial photos of Longwei in the aerial survey photo collection of Hong Kong - 1964 and said that the location of Longwei should have been a mudflat in the 1960s. (see "evidence: photos of Longwei mudflat in 1964!" on save Lung Mei website for details)

The project will also damage the natural coastline of Tolo Harbour.

Opponents of the project also questioned the measures proposed by the relevant organizations for ex situ conservation of some species, believing that the effectiveness of the measures is questionable. However, the authorities concerned have objected to the claim that fish will move out on their own, while the engineers have pointed out that some species of fish, such as goby, may not be able to move out in time due to their weak ability to move out, and other organisms, such as shellfish such as snails, may not be able to move out in time due to their weak ability to move out.

engineering

The project includes the complete removal of all living and non living organisms from the 200 meter long coastal surface, and the laying of 47000 cubic meters of fine sand, making it impossible for the ecology to recover. The project is expected to start in November 2008 and complete in April 2011. In addition to the 200m Long Beach, the facilities of Longwei beach include snack booths and open-air tea seats, parking spaces (including 100 private car spaces, 3 fixed parking spaces for tourist buses and 2 drop off spaces for tourist buses), 10 electric bicycle spaces, public bus stops, office buildings, shower rooms, public changing rooms, shark prevention nets, toilets and watchtowers.

Traces of guanhaima's life in Longwei Beach

The bidding for Longwei artificial beach has been postponed. The major league for the protection of Longwei beach released three photos taken at Longwei beach yesterday, including the female tube seahorse that produces eggs, the pregnant male tube seahorse, and the young seahorse fish wrapped around the sea dragon. According to Australian seahorse expert Dave harasti, the photos, together with the discovery of tube seahorse juveniles in dragon's tail, show that dragon's tail is the breeding ground of tube seahorse. It is suggested that a comprehensive survey of seahorse should be conducted in dragon's tail to confirm the number and condition of seahorse.

Li Jinhua, a member of the Hong Kong natural ecology forum, pointed out that the female fish would insert the ovipositor into the brooding bag on the abdomen of the male fish when the seahorse was mating, while the female fish's ovipositor would not be retrieved immediately after mating. Therefore, members of the forum photographed the tubal Seahorse highlighting the ovipositor at the end of 2012, which showed that the seahorse might have just completed mating. The photos of the pregnant male tubal seahorse and the tubal seahorse children were taken by the same designer in 2009 A member of the forum photographed the emergence of fertilized tube hippocampus in dragon tail in recent years, which proves that dragon tail is an important breeding site for tube hippocampus in Hong Kong.

Address: Ting Kok Road, Tai Po District, Hong Kong

Longitude: 114.229708

Latitude: 22.472009

Chinese PinYin : Long Wei Tan