As corals have been reported to occur in the intertidal rock pools of the rocky coasts at Ping Chau (Cornish and McCorry 1998) and Cape d'Aguilar (Morton and Harper 1995), ecological value of the rocky shore at these two sites were upgraded from medium to high (Table 7.3c).

The 43 mangrove stands identified in Hong Kong have been categorised into five conservation category by the AFCD study conducted by Tam and Wong (1997). The lowest category is "Relatively Lower Values for Conservation" which consists of 14 stands which could be considered for ecological value adjustment (downgrading). However, there seems to be inconsistency in value justification between the AFCD study and our study as a result of different findings from field surveys. According to the AFCD study conducted by Tam and Wong (1997), the mangrove at Tai Tam has been reported to have totally disappeared based on the field visit undertaken in May 1996. However, the mangrove there (Site 82) was found during the field surveys for this Study to support a number of mangrove species, diverse epifauna, and was free from human disturbance (see Section 7.1.7 and Annex G for details). Therefore, ecological value justification was solely based on habitat surveys conducted for the present study.