Scientists from City University on Wednesday stated they have actually discovered a lot more coral in Victoria Harbour than they anticipated, including that this reveals the water quality has actually enhanced in the last few years.
The university’s State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution stated its scuba divers have actually mapped 5 crucial coral environments along the harbour, with the most significant website at Fat Tong Chau amounting to 10 hectares in size – comparable to 14 football pitches.
Jeffrey Chung, the supervisor of the task, stated locations around Cape Collinson Lighthouse and Devil’s Peak were likewise alive with coral.
He stated they were astonished to have actually tape-recorded an overall of 35 coral types, in addition to some uncommon organisms like double-ended pipefish in the harbour in the previous 2 years.
“All of our colleagues were shocked by such varied and large-sized environments discovered in the Victoria Harbour due to the fact that it is an extremely established location and lots of shorelines have actually been filled, however we might discover a lot of organisms and environments in the natural part [of the harbour],” he stated.
Chung stated their findings reveal that the federal government’s Harbour Area Treatment Scheme is effectively tidying up Victoria Harbour, however there is still space for enhancement.
“We hope we can see the environment broaden in the future. Some synthetic coastlines are consisted of in our research study, however we didn’t discover any octocoral or tough coral there. In the future we hope we can discover such organisms there since it suggests that the harbour location, the environment and the water quality are recuperating,” he stated.
The scientist stated he hopes their research study outcomes will assist authorities to much better handle the harbour’s water quality and save the marine biodiversity.