Ms Anissa Wong Sean-yee, JP Permanent Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works (Environment) / Director of Environmental Protection   Our Mission to conduct a comprehensive and scientific monitoring programme that will help safeguard the health of Hong Kong's marine environment and achieve the Water Quality Objectives.

Hong Kong has a responsibility to protect its unique and precious marine environment. The Government aims to ensure that our marine waters are used in the best and most responsible ways, and to promote their conservation so that our marine heritage is safeguarded for future generations.

Effective action must be based on understanding, however. That principle underlies the marine water monitoring programme carried out by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) for the past 20 years. Since its introduction in 1986, this comprehensive and rigorously scientific programme has built up a huge database on the quality of Hong Kong's marine water and sediments. The EPD has used this information to plan water pollution controls, assess the effectiveness of measures it has adopted, and anticipate future changes and challenges to Hong Kong's waters. The programme has proved to be a crucial resource in managing our sensitive marine environment.

The 20th anniversary of the programme seemed a good time to produce an overview of the programme that would be easily accessible to the general public. This anniversary report is designed to give non-experts a clear picture of how the marine water monitoring programme works, how it has evolved over the past 20 years, and what it has achieved in that time. At the same time, this report provides a comprehensive vista of significant long-term changes in Hong Kong's marine waters.

The EPD's marine monitoring programme is an important Government initiative designed to control water pollution in the territory and protect the marine environment. To complement this initiative, the commitment of ordinary citizens is essential. Every time a person takes personal steps to reduce pollution or supports the Government's initiatives for controlling water pollution, they are ensuring that the drive to protect Hong Kong's marine waters will continue to gain momentum.

The EPD will continue to run its marine monitoring programme, collecting and analysing the data that is essential for so many in the community. Widely used by Government policy makers, planners, academic researchers and members of the public, this information is helping ensure that new developments and initiatives respect the sensitivity of our marine ecosystems, so that we can pass our marine heritage on to future generations in the best possible condition.

Ms Anissa Wong Sean-yee, JP
Permanent Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works (Environment) /
Director of Environmental Protection