Wetland ecologies account for 6% of the planet’s surface, yet they are home to an astounding 40% of plant and animal species. They play a vital role in climate adaptation, flood mitigation, and biodiversity support. Globally, inland fisheries, including wetlands, generate US$ 19 billion annually and employ 58 million people. However, 64% of the world’s wetlands have disappeared since 1900, disappearing three times faster than forests. While the Ramsar Convention protects 20% of wetlands, the remaining 80% remain vulnerable to threats like pollution, land-use changes, and climate risks.
There is an urgent need to address the degradation of wetlands and fishponds, which are vital for biodiversity, livelihoods, and climate resilience. The decline of traditional fishpond operations in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area (GBA) poses a significant threat to ecological conservation, cultural heritage, and sustainable development. Without intervention, the loss of wetlands will accelerate, further endangering species, disrupting livelihoods, and reducing the capacity for climate adaptation.
Hong Kong’s peak aquaculture production was in 1970-80s when there over 2,200 hectares of active fishponds. Today only half remain. The industry is in decline due to an aging population of operators, a shrinking market as imported fish products become cheaper, and pressure from large scale development proposals.
The aim of this project is to transform Hong Kong’s fishpond operations into sustainable energy providers, improve farming efficiency, and enhance biodiversity, reducing reliance on government support.
Located within an area of fishponds in San Tin at Hong Kong’s boundary edge with Mainland China, we have designed and constructed three devices that enhance aquacultural operations within this synthetic landscape. These devices offer support structures for the aging operators to make their work less labour intensive and harness solar energy to power these ecological machines. The project pilots how we can evolve the meaningful cultural heritage of Hong Kong’s fish farming practices, maintain ecological value, and engage the public to experience this unique landscape.
The network of fishponds located within the Deep Bay Wetland but outside of the Ramsar site contains a diversity of human activities; with bulldozers, pumps and material storage coinciding with ponds, reeds, and migratory birds. Despite this, the area is heralded for its ecological value, and fishpond operators are assisted by government subsidies to maintain their ponds as a continual attractor for migratory birds. Simultaneously, recent efforts to develop the San Tin Technopole as a hub for clustered innovation and technology have focused attention on this border area and its future as a Northern Metropolis.
The project questions whether conservation and development are mutually exclusive, and if it is possible to attract people to the landscape without having a detrimental impact on the existing ecology. By working with key stakeholders and testing different design solutions, we have piloted three support structures that demonstrate the mutual benefit and cooperation needed to balance this constructed ecology. Rather than integrating all of the functions necessary to assist fishpond operation into a singular structure, this strategy breaks down each component into a set of ecological devices.
•Crane: This structure has a manually operated jib hoist that cantilevers over the water, can rotate 240 degrees, and can lift 0.5 tonnes to assist with fish harvesting. A stair provides access to the hoist and is a viewing station to observe the landscape.
•Hide and Feeder: An angled plane of solar panels powers the automated pellet feeder. This roof provides shade over a bench for the operator to rest or for visitors to watch and monitor migratory birds.
•Pump Deck: Stretching over two ponds, the deck contains solar panels that power a pump that can move water between the ponds and provides power to the aerator to provide oxygen to the fish.
The ecological devices address economic and environmental challenges faced by the fishpond operators and set out to explore untapped opportunities in this productive landscape, such as energy production, water amelioration, and public education. The bund where the devices are situated has been landscaped with native wetland plants and grasses, and vegetables and fruit trees have been planted to benefit from the nutrient rich water pumped from the fishponds. The walkways have been surfaced with crushed oyster shells encouraging visitors to explore this enhanced ecology.
This project offers tools to intervene in this complex and sensitive environment, providing a foundation for effecting change in Deep Bay, and in other aquacultural sites across Hong Kong SAR.
• Project typology: Ecological device, temporary installation
• All landscape architecture offices involved in the design of landscape:
Lu Xiaoxuan (Division of Landscape Architecture, The University of Hong Kong)
• All architecture offices involved in the design:
Joshua Bolchover, Donn Holohan, and Jersey Poon (Department of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong)
• Other credits you need or wish to write:
Project Authors: Joshua Bolchover, Donn Holohan, Xiaoxuan Lu, Jersey Poon
Project Team: Kevin Lin, Jack Mok King Hei, Lewis Maplethorpe, Aristo Chan Hui Bun
Exhibition Team: Sandy Wang Qianhui
Ecological Consultant: Asia Ecological Consultants Ltd.
Structural Consultant: Prime Consulting Engineers Ltd.
Contractor: Plus Engineering Ltd.
Funding: These devices are part of the project “Balancing Ecological Sensitivity and Enhancing Experience: Experiments for the Deep Bay Outer Ramsar Site” researched by Joshua Bolchover, Donn Holohan, Xiaoxuan Lu, Jersey Poon, Rural Urban Lab, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, funded by the Countryside Conservation Funding Scheme.
