The Hong Kong Underwater Photo and Video Competition 2016, jointly organised by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) and Hong Kong Underwater Association, announced its winning entries.
The Hong Kong Underwater Photo and Video Competition, in its 5th year now, received 443 entries this year, featuring marine ecology, habitats and marine life in Hong Kong waters.
An AFCD spokesman said, “Entries over the years have showcased the beauty of marine life and habitats in Hong Kong waters, and have helped promote the conservation of the marine environment.”
The event comprised a photo competition and a video competition. In the photo competition the categories were Macros/Close-ups and Standard/Wide Angle. In addition to prizes for champions and runners-up in each group, there were Special Prizes for Junior Underwater Photographers presented by the judging panel to encourage less experienced underwater photographers to participate in the competition.
Macro/Close-up Category Winner: Vania KAMMacro/Close-up Category 1st runner-up: AU Wai ChiMacro/Close-up Category: 2nd runner-up: Thomas LAMMacro/Close-up Category Junior Underwater Photographer Winner: SO Chun FungMacro/Close-up Category Merit Award: Thomas LAMMacro/Close-up Category Merit Award: Thomas LAMMacro/Close-up Category Merit Award: Tang Wai ChungMacro/Close-up Category Merit Award: Vania KAMMacro/Close-up Category Merity Award: Tang Wai ChungMacro/Close-up Category Merit Award: Vania KAMMacro/Close-up Category Merit Award: Wan Sheung YueMacro/Close-up Category Merit Award: Lau Pong Wing AtimMacro/Close-up Category Merit Award: LEUNG Yu Yick
Macro/Close-up Category Merit Award: Leung Wun CheungStandard/Wide-Angle Category Winner: Yu Wing ChungStandard/Wide-Angle Category 1st runner-up: Wan Sheung YueStandard/Wide-Angle Category 2nd runner-up: Thomas LAMStandard/Wide-Angle Category Junior Underwater Photographer Prize: SO Chun FungStandard/Wide-Angle Category Merit Award: Thomas LAMStandard/Wide-Angle Category Merit Award: Ho Tsz HungStandard/Wide-Angle Category Merit Award: Markus KlemmerStandard/Wide-Angle Category Merit Award: Vania KAMStandard/Wide-Angle Category Merit Award: Lau Man Chi VanessaStandard/Wide-Angle Category Merit Award: Lo Wai Yip DerekStandard/Wide-Angle Category Merit Award: Poon Yiu Nam DavidStandard/Wide-Angle Category Merit Award: Yu Wing ChungStandard/Wide-Angle Category Merit Award: Poon Yiu Nam DavidStandard/Wide-Angle Category Merit Award: Lau Pong Wing Atim
A study by Allen W.L. Lo and Stanley K.H. Shea published recently in Msrine Biodiversity Records, has found 4 species of reef fish not previously known from Hong Kong waters. They also conclude that these 4 species are not introduced. So here is a welcome list of Hong Kong’s newest residents:
Ambyleleottis japonica
A Goby that grows to only 8.5 cm length and lives near the bottom and about which very little is known.
picture by J.E. Randall via Fishbase
Halichoeres hartzfeldii – the Goldstripe Wrasse
A reef living wrasse of the Western Pacific that grows up to 18cm in length.
picture by J.E. Randall via Fishbase
C
anthigaster papua – the Papuan Toby
A pufferfish species from the West Pacific that grows to 10cm.
picture by J. Bednarzik via Fishbase
Parapriacanthus sp. – a species of Sweeper
The authors of the paper did not identify it to species so this is just a placeholder.
Another dead shark was found in Hong Kong waters over the weekend, just days after a dead dolphin and shark washed up on two separate Tuen Mun beaches.
It is believed that the two sharks are of the same, or related, shark species.
At 5:45pm on Saturday, a swimmer told lifeguards at Butterfly Beach about what he thought was a shark carcass floating near the shore.
Around six or seven lifeguards then went into the water, finding and retrieving a dead 36-centimetre-long spadenose shark.
A 60cm-long Pacific Spadenose shark (Scoliodon macrorhynchos) washed ashore at Butterfly Beach in Tuen Mun at about 11.30am this morning. As always when a shark or suspected shark is spotted at beach in Hong Kong,
the warning flag was hoisted and beach-goers are told not to swim there, while marine police and the government flying service scour the area for sharks. No more Sharks were found. The shark may have been still alive when it washed ashore, but is now being autopsied by Ocean Park Conservation Fund.
All of Hong Kongs gazetted beaches are enclosed with shark-prevention barriers of steel wire mesh. The shark nets for the beach were inspected but no damage was detected. It is possible that the shark came ashore during high tide – or it was simply small enough to slip through the mesh.
Also on Thursday, the carcass of a male Chinese white dolphin (Sousa chinensis) was found on a beach in Sham Tsang in Tsuen Wan district. An AFCD spokeswoman said the department was alerted to the discovery at 11am. The dolphin measured 2.1 metres long and was also sent to Ocean Park for an autopsy.
Marine police on Saturday (7th May 2016) searching for a shark in Silvermine Bay after a beach-goer reported that he might have seen a shark outside the shark net. The life guards raised the red flag and a police launch and government flying service helicopter were dispatched. But witnesses interviewed by Apple Daily also suggested it may have swum more like a dolphin than a shark. Apple Daily posted a video on their site here. You can see the “shark” at the 1:00 minute mark. It’s definitely a dolphin.
On the 9th of October 1932: a 6 foot 6 inch, 186 lbs black-tip reef shark (Carcharinus melanopterus) was caught by fishermen off th Kowloon Docks (between present day Hung Hom and the Laguna Verde residential blocks). It was caught on a hand line made of hemp with a half-pound snapper as bait on a large iron hook. The fisherman was definitely trying to catch a shark and had a large bait and strong tackle on purpose. The sea was choppy, a fresh N.E. wind was blowing and few small fish were about. The previous week a number of shark were about off Kowloon Docks and on 25th September […] at least 50 snapper were lost through sharks taking them before they had been pulled up to the surface. This particular fish was played 20 minutes, pulled in to within 2 feet of the surface and then harpooned. It was not pulled on board but was lashed to the side of the sam pan. Market value about $7.00 – roughly equal to HKD 2,280 today. Stunning to think that shark was abundant enough locally to cost that little: a whole 6-foot, 84.3 kg black-tip reef shark for only HKD 2,280! Compare this with a recently quoted wholesale price for 1 kg of shark’s fin in Guangzhou (roughly comparable to the shark discussed here) of USD 960 or HKD 7,480! Why the difference? Rarity. Sharks have become so rare, that the prices are soaring and they face more and more risk of extinction from over fishing.
The decomposing body of a whale shark, a rare species in local waters, was found off the coast of Cheung Chau. The five-metre creature was spotted about 50 metres off the island by Cheung Chau resident Dan Carew. He reported the sighting to the police shortly before 7pm yesterday (31st August 2015).
Image: Dan Carew (via SCMP)
The marine police later located the decomposing body near a coastal area off Cheung Chau Peak Road West. Carew told the media he saw the shark floating off the sea at sunset and immediately left his home to check it. It was later washed closer to the coast. Carew said there was a nylon rope around its tail. After studying the pictures and a video provided by Carew, the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation said it was a whale shark, characterised by its square head and pectoral fins.
Image via SCMP
A spokeswoman said the foundation could not tell how it died and would try to learn more from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. He said the largest known extant fish species was rare in local waters, although there had been occasional sightings.
Skin, fat and muscle samples were collected but a necropsy could not be made because of the poor condition of the carcass and the environmental restrictions on- site. AFCD has arranged carcass disposal.
