Airport Authority’s Fish Fry Release and Artificial Reef Deployment to Enhance Ecological Value of Hong Kong’s Western Waters

Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) has been proactively implementing the "Marine Ecology and Fisheries Enhancement Strategy" to enhance the marine ecology of the waters around Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) and North Lantau. One of the strategy’s key projects is the deployment of artificial reefs on the seabed to provide a home for marine life, followed by fish fry releases in the new reef area to help local fish populations grow and thrive.

Large-scale artificial reef deployment to the west of the airport

In early 2025, AAHK installed 500 artificial reefs on the seabed to the west of HKIA’s Centre Runway. Made of concrete, these reefs have a rough surface and holes of various sizes to simulate the structure of natural coral reefs and allow different types of fish to pass through. The pH value of the artificial reefs was also adjusted to be similar to that of seawater, making it faster and easier for marine life to attach and grow on the artificial reefs and thus improving the marine ecology of the waters.

As early as 2021, AAHK has implemented an artificial reef deployment pilot scheme, installing 100 artificial reefs in the waters on the west of the South Runway.  In total AAHK has so far deployed 600 artificial reefs in the airport’s western waters, creating a large habitat for marine life in the area.

60,000 fish fry released in artificial reefs deployment areas

On the “National Fish Releasing Day” on 6 June 2025, AAHK released 60,000 fish fry to the west of the airport's Centre and South runways where the artificial reefs were deployed, marking AAHK’s largest fish fry release so far.

AAHK consulted fishermen's groups on the species of fish fry to be released. The four selected species were green grouper, yellowfin seabream, black seabream and white flower croakers, a prey species of Chinese White Dolphins.  They were known to inhabit Hong Kong’s western waters, though their numbers had begun to decrease. These species have ecological significance as well as commercial value to the fisheries sector.

Ten thousand of the released fish fry were locally cultivated crescent sweetlips under a project funded by AAHK’s Fisheries Enhancement Fund, marking the first time that locally cultivated fish fry were released in Hong Kong in a large scale. AAHK also released about 1 million shrimp fry in Sha Lo Wan and Sham Wat Wan in northwest Lantau waters on 6 June.

Peter Lee, Chief Sustainability Officer of AAHK, said, “With our two-pronged approach of artificial reef deployment and fish fry release, AAHK aims to enhance the ecological value of waters off North Lantau and the entire western waters of Hong Kong, bringing positive and beneficial effects to marine ecology and the local fisheries industry."

To achieve better survival of the released fish fry, the research team arranged for them to be temporarily raised in local fish farm after their delivery from the mainland. This helped them adapt to the environment of Hong Kong waters. In addition, the fish fry was released in “Hong Kong International Airport Approach Areas”, where commercial fishing is prohibited and vessel entry is restricted, guaranteeing a safe environment for the fish fry to grow.

Pilot scheme proves significant ecological improvement

In 2023, AAHK had also released about 20,000 fish fry at the artificial reefs locations to the west of the airport's Centre and South runways. A research team then followed up with a six-month monitoring period, which included acoustic monitoring, remote underwater video and underwater visual census. During this time, part of the released fish fry showed an increase in the size, and a total of 17 fish species were found utilizing the artificial reefs, including painted sweetlips, spotted scat, Russell’s snapper, dusky-tail snapper, yellow grouper and clownfish.

The monitoring results proved that the artificial reef deployment and fish fry release had produced marked enhancement in the biodiversity of the waters west of HKIA. The artificial reefs provide habitats for fish and other marine life, laying the foundation for AAHK’s scaled-up artificial reef deployment and fish fry release in 2025.

Peter Lee, Chief Sustainability Officer of AAHK, said, “Since 2019, AAHK has released nearly 90,000 fish fry and deployed 600 artificial reefs. We will conduct 12-month monitoring, paying attention to how fish and other marine life inhabited the artificial reefs. We are also planning two more fish fry releases in the coming years to further enhance the marine ecology of Hong Kong’s western waters.”

To download the video, please go to:

https://corpvideo.hkairport.com/downloadmedia/index/download/flavorid/1_g9qrw9vs