Hoi Ha Wan
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Hoi Ha Wan () or Jone's Cove is a bay at the north of
Sai Kung Peninsula The Sai Kung Peninsula () is a peninsula in the easternmost part of the New Territories in Hong Kong. Its name comes from Sai Kung Town in the central southern area of the peninsula. The southern part of the peninsula is administered by Sai ...
. It is part of Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park, a
marine park A marine park is a designated park consisting of an area of sea (or lake) set aside to achieve ecological sustainability, promote marine awareness and understanding, enable marine recreational activities, and provide benefits for Indigenous peo ...
in Hong Kong. The village of Hoi Ha is located on the innermost shore of Hoi Ha Wan. The location has a high biological value, as it shows significant
biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...
. That is because the Park is a sheltered bay with pristine water quality, so that it provides a good marine environment for housing a great variety of marine organisms. Numerous kinds of
coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...
s can be ascertained under the sea, and it is a hot spot for
diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...
. So as to keep the local
ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...
s away from human intervention, fishing, particularly
bottom trawling Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and Demersal zone, demersal trawling. Benthic tra ...
and uses of
dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...
s or
poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...
s like
cyanide In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...
s, collecting sea products and corals are prohibited by law.


Geography

Covering an area of around , the seaward boundary of the park is demarcated by linking the tips of Heung Lo Kok and Kwun Tsoi Kok through the northern end of Flat Island (Ngan Chau) and Moon Island (
Mo Chau Mo Chau (), or Moon Island is an island in Tolo Channel, in the Tai Po District of Hong Kong. See also * Hoi Ha Wan * Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, b ...
). The landward boundary follows the high-water mark along the coastline. The
Wan Tsai Wan Tsai () is a peninsula at the northern extremity of the north-western Sai Kung Peninsula, Hong Kong, with Hoi Ha Wan to its west and Long Harbour (Hong Kong), Long Harbour on its east. Tap Mun, Grass Island lies east of the peninsula. Geog ...
peninsula forms the western seashore of Hoi Ha Wan.


Ecology


Mangrove communities

Like the nursery grounds in
Mai Po Mai Po Marshes (; Hong Kong Hakka: ''Mi3bu4 Sip5ti4'') is a nature reserve located in San Tin near Yuen Long in Hong Kong. it is within Yuen Long District. It is part of Deep Bay, an internationally significant wetland that is actually a s ...
, Hoi Ha Wan also offers a
mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...
community occupying about . Along with a buffer zone between the tidal waters and the land, the mangrove woods are commonly act an ecologically sustainable habitat for juvenile fishes and other
intertidal The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various sp ...
and
subtidal The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminate ...
invertebrates.


Marine communities

Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park has lush coral communities. Most of the
stony coral Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mo ...
species recorded in Hong Kong can be found in this marine park. 100-odd species of reef-associated fishes have been recorded in Hoi Ha Wan. In addition, records of wide variety of marine animals, like starfish and jellyfish, in the Park further demonstrates its ecological significance.
Reef Check Reef Check is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation of two ecosystems: tropical coral reefs and temperate kelp forests. The Foundation is headquartered in California, United States, but uses data from volunt ...
through AFC

performed by local
British Sub-Aqua Club The British Sub-Aqua Club or BSAC has been recognised since 1954 by UK Sport as the national governing body of recreational diving in the United Kingdom. The club was founded in 1953 and at its peak in the mid-1990s had over 50,000 members ...
diving enthusiasts 'Ydive

and
Li Po Chun United World College The Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong (LPCUWC, ), established in 1992, is an International Baccalaureate boarding school in Wu Kai Sha, Hong Kong. It is the eighth member of the 18-member United World Colleges movement. Li Po Chun ...
's Coral Monitoring Team has annually monitored coral & marine life variety & density since 1992.


World Wildlife Fund Marine Life Centre

The
Jockey Club The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom. It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree Racecourse, Aintree, Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs Racecourse, Epsom ...
HSBC
WWF Hong Kong WWF Hong Kong (WWF HK) is the independent branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Hong Kong. It was established in December 1981 as ''World Wildlife Fund Hong Kong''. WWF Hong Kong has over 150 full-time staff for conservation impact and a ...
Hoi Ha Marine Life Centre is based in the marine park and offers students and the community opportunities to appreciate Hong Kong's valuable marine resources. To increase public understanding and participation in biodiversity monitoring
WWF Hong Kong WWF Hong Kong (WWF HK) is the independent branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Hong Kong. It was established in December 1981 as ''World Wildlife Fund Hong Kong''. WWF Hong Kong has over 150 full-time staff for conservation impact and a ...
have been increasingly getting involved in
Citizen Science The term citizen science (synonymous to terms like community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is research conducted with participation from the general public, or am ...
, incorporating
iNaturalist iNaturalist is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. iNaturalist may be accessed via its web ...
and the
City Nature Challenge The City Nature Challenge is an annual, global, community science competition to document urban biodiversity. The challenge is a bioblitz that engages residents and visitors to find and document plants, animals, and other organisms living in urba ...
activities into their sites across Hong Kong including Hoi Ha Wan.


History

There are also the remnants of
limekiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime (material), lime called ''quicklime'' (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this chemical reaction, reaction is: Calcium carbonat ...
s. There are total of four lime kilns in Hoi Ha Wan but only two remain comparatively intact. They are located on the eastern shore of inner Hoi Ha Wan. The lime kiln industry was one of the oldest industries (1800–1939) in Hong Kong, which refined lime from either oyster shells or coral skeletons for construction and agricultural uses. In the processes,
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
, i.e.
calcium carbonate Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a common substance found in Rock (geology), rocks as the minerals calcite and aragonite, most notably in chalk and limestone, eggshells, gastropod shells, shellfish skel ...
, in the shells and corals would be transformed into
calcium oxide Calcium oxide (formula: Ca O), commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline, crystalline solid at room temperature. The broadly used term '' lime'' connotes calcium-containing ...
by means of heating.


Transport

Hoi Ha Wan can be reached by taking the New Territories
Green Minibus Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...
route number 7 at
Sai Kung Town Sai Kung Town (), or simply Sai Kung (), is a town on the Sai Kung Peninsula facing Port Shelter, Sai Kung Hoi (Inner Port Shelter, part of Sai Kung District) in the New Territories, Hong Kong. Sai Kung is the central hub of nearby surrounding ...
Centre. The minibus provides service at daytime every day, every 30 minutes. The first bus leaves from Sai Kung at 7:55am, from the bus stop outside the 7-11 convenience store by the pier. The last bus departs from Sai Kung from the same location at 6:25pm. The fare from Sai Kung Town to Hoi Ha Wan is
HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of Hong Kong. It is divided into 100 cents. Historically, it was also divided into 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong an ...
13.1 as of June 2020.


See also

*
Marine parks in Hong Kong The Marine Parks Ordinance protects and conserves the marine environment and a rich collection of aquatic animals and plants, such as corals, sea grasses and dolphins. The ordinance also provides the legal framework for the designation, control ...


References


External links


Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park, Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation DepartmentWWF Hong Kong – Hoi Ha Wan
{{Coord, 22, 28, 10, N, 114, 20, 08, E, display=title, type:waterbody Bays of Hong Kong Sai Kung North Marine parks of Hong Kong Country parks and special areas of Hong Kong Mangroves Underwater diving sites in Hong Kong