One of the key components of the main SUSDEV 21 Study will be to prepare an Environmental Baseline Report which will effectively act as an environmental health check for Hong Kong. The environmental baseline will present among other things a comprehensive assessment of the status of Hong Kong's marine environment and the degree to which the natural environmental capital stock (eg ecological resources and assimilative capacity) have been compromised by development and pollution related impacts. Early in the Study it was identified that relatively little is known regarding the baseline concentrations of organic pollutants in Hong Kong sediments and biota. The surveys reported herein serve to fill this data gap and allow assessment of a range of concentrations of contaminants of concern in the marine environment(4)) .

It has often been suggested that a key component of sustainability is to ensure that development does not impair the functioning of the natural environment through toxic contamination(5)). Only by having a baseline will the Government be able to determine the status of existing contamination to ensure that increases do not exceed levels of concern. Incremental changes can then be assessed in order to prioritise environmental management actions amongst a variety of competing issues of concern.

The results of this Study provide a baseline dataset representative of marine areas of Hong Kong waters and indicate the current levels of these organic contaminants in both sediments and marine biota. It is anticipated that sediment quality criteria (for sediment data) or FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme limits (for toxic organics in tissue) could, in some form serve as guidelines above which the contaminant concentration would be deemed unacceptable.

The recorded values of the selected organic contaminants of concern, ie Total DDT, Total PCB, Total PAH and Tributyltin may also be used as a baseline for future spatial and temporal contamination trends monitoring in Hong Kong marine waters. Such information is both vital and timely for the elucidation of sources of contaminant inputs or for the verification of contaminant control measures.

(1) ERM (1998) Study on Sustainable Development for the 21st Century: Toxics in Marine Sediments and Biota: Final Inception Paper. Prepared for Planning Department.

(2) It should also be noted that the species sampled are also those consumed by rare species such as the Chinese White Dolphin and Finless Porpoise.

(3) ERM-Hong Kong, Ltd (1998) Fisheries Resources and Fishing Operations in Hong Kong Waters. Final Report to the Agriculture and Fisheries Department.

(4) Contaminants of concern are regarded for the purposes of this Study as being those listed in the Draft Technical Circular, Management of Dredged/Excavated Sediment.

(5) Cairns J Jr (1997) Defining Goals and Conditions for a Sustainable World. Environmental Health Perspectives 105, 1164 - 1170