Super Oyster versus climate change in Hong Kong
The team have also bred salt-tolerant shellfish themselves. Using their genomic selection technology they have developed a more resilient animal they call the Hong Kong Super Oyster.
This has a 30-40 per cent survival rate in high salinity conditions, the team says, a significant improvement from the regular Hong Kong oyster’s less than 10 per cent.
Vengatesen aims to boost the survival rate to 80 per cent. The more data that is entered to refine the models that predict survival, the more accurate it will become over time, he adds.
Chan Shu Fung began trialling the new strain on his rafts in September last year. “It will take a year for us to tell how good they are,” he told Dialogue Earth.
Even if these new oysters can allow the village fishers’ traditions to continue, it is unclear how long Lau Fau Shan will remain as it is. A development project proposed by the Hong Kong government is set to transform the area into a hub for fintech, start-ups and residential buildings dubbed New Digi Bay.
The initial proposal sparked concerns about the continuation of oyster farming. Chan Shu Fung, who frequently liaises with the government as the chair of farmers’ group the Deep Bay Oyster Cultivation Association, is hopeful, though. He says the latest planning proposal pledges to conserve part of the bay and promote oyster traditions. Doing this while improving infrastructure could bring more tourists to experience its oyster culture, he hopes.
“If the urbanisation plan does not come into conflict with oyster farming and the ecosystem it depends on, it has more benefits than drawbacks,” he says.
Chan Kwok Leung fears the industry could decline further under seemingly unstoppable trends of urbanisation, climate change and younger people reluctant to take up the hard life of an oyster farmer.
But he is determined to keep trying, adding modern innovations like the Super Oyster to an ancient tradition.
The forces battering Hong Kong’s oyster farms are strong, but Chan Kwok Leung cites a Chinese idiom that only gold remains after strong waves wash away the sand.
“We had our glory days,” he says. “I am trying to do something now. Hopefully, new technological breakthroughs may bring them back.”
This article was originally published on Dialogue Earth under a Creative Commons licence.