Term paper on
Exploration on Sustainability of
Seafood Restaurants in
Sai Kung
Course: SOSC 562 / SOSC 301E
Members:
CHAN, Ka Lok (kalok@ust.hk, 02364333)
LEUNG, Sui Yin Christine (eg_lsyaa@stu.ust.hk, 04683393)
MA, Wai Kin David (wkma@ust.hk, 05813268)
YIU, Chun Fai Raymond (ac_ycf@stu.ust.hk, 03383374)
Date: 24 December, 2006
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Exploration on sustainability of Seafood Restaurants
Table of Content
Introduction to the Sector and Rationale for the Choice..................................................... 2
1. Baseline Conditions and Impacts .................................................................................... 4
2. Stakeholders Awareness & Capacities; Issues and Gap Analysis ................................... 8
2.1 Stakeholders’ wants and needs .................................................................................. 8
2.2 Stakeholders’ awareness and capacities .................................................................... 9
2.3 Issues and Gap Analysis...........................................................................................11
3. Alternative Generations ................................................................................................ 14
3.1 Partnership for governance ..................................................................................... 16
3.2 Monitoring and facilitating changes in Sai Kung district ....................................... 17
3.3 Practice of seafood restaurant ................................................................................. 18
3.4 Building up capacity of customers, restaurant owners and employees .................. 21
4. The feedback from stakeholders about alternatives ...................................................... 23
4.1 Feedback from residents near the seafood street .................................................... 23
4.2 Feedback from owners of seafood restaurant ......................................................... 27
5. Indicators and monitoring system……………………………………………………..30
6. Integration with Community ........................................................................................ 32
Reference……………………………………………………………………………… 36
Figure 1 Content of faecal coliforms and Escherichia coli in a water control zone along
Silberstrand from 1 January, 1998 to 30 December 2005 ................................................. 39
Figure 2 Projected Hong Kong Resident Population in Sai Kung for 2006-2015 ............ 40
Figure 3 Visitor arrivals from 2001 to 2005 ..................................................................... 41
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Introduction to the Sector and Rationale for the Choice
Sai Kung, dubbed as the back garden of Hong Kong, is renowned for its preserved
natural landscape and delicious seafood worldwide. In the early 1970s, Sai Kung was a
compact community of small fishing villages with a population of 3,300. 1 When the
transportation network and tourism developed in the 1980s, the seafood restaurant sector
emerged in Sai Kung to meet the evolving demand from the local and foreign tourists.
Nowadays, the seafood restaurant sector provides numerous local employment
opportunities, constitutes a core part of the Sai Kung economy, and fuels the momentum
of the Hong Kong tourism industry.
Dinning in seafood restaurants in Sai Kung is a unique experience and an essential
itinerary for a visit to Hong Kong. The amusement of a dining experience is perhaps best
depicted by the Hong Kong Tourism Association:2
“A seafood feast in an outlying community can be a lot of fun. Pick your favorite seafood
from the tanks at the restaurant and let the chefs take care of the rest. Freshness is
guaranteed and all you need is a good appetite. Restaurants serve the juiciest prawns,
scallops, lobsters and, of course, fish. Book a table and experience picturesque seaside
dining.”
Yet, underneath this vivid depiction, the sustainability of the Sai Kung seafood restaurant
sectors itself is a matter of concern. Our study has identified numerous conflicts and
tensions among various stakeholders, adverse impact of the restaurant operations on the
domestic environment and undue exploitation on parties that are not adequately
compensated.
1
Planning Department of HKSAR Government,
http://www.info.gov.hk/tdd
2
Hong Kong Tourism Board,
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/gourmet/fdistrict/gp_food_sai.jhtml
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In this study, the needs of the tourists and customers are studied; relevant stakeholders
and their gaps are analyzed; alternatives are generated to maintain a sustainable
development of seafood restaurants in this area; stakeholders’ responses to these
alternatives are summarized; and indicators that reflect the relationship of the seafood
restaurant operations and the environment are identified.
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1. Baseline Conditions and Impacts
Sustainable development, according to the World Commission on Environment and
Development of United Nations in 1987, is
“development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs”3.
This report brings the concept of sustainable development to the establishment of local
strategies according to the carrying capacity of seafood restaurants in Sai Kung, in order
to achieve the full integration of the needs for economic and social development to
conserve the environment.
To understand the sustainability of seafood restaurants of Sai Kung, an initial set of data
is acquired from different governmental and non-governmental organizations such as
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Census and Statistics Department, Hong
Kong Productivity Council, and the United Nations. The residents and the restaurants
owners are also major stakeholders within the community, their comments and
perspectives can reflect the present situation in Sai Kung to certain extent, and hence we
have conducted interviews with 2 lessees, 2 restaurants owners, and 1 patrolling staff
from Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. The result below infers the
interaction of seafood restaurants with other stakeholders, in terms of food and services
supply, has been unsustainable at present and in the near future.
Environmental effects

Noise disturbance from restaurants, which affects sleep and living quality of
residents. According to the restaurant owners, the operating hours of
restaurants is about 11am ~ 11pm (or until 2am in festivals).
3
World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1987)
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Rats and cockroaches in houses, which raises hygiene problem, and affects
their health ultimately. Residents in Sai Kung have found that food waste and
sewage of the seafood restaurants is disposed to alleys or side-streets without
appropriate treatment but is not delivered to the refuse dump of the town. The
consequence is the serious pest problem for the residences adjacent to the
restaurants, and the lives of residents are degraded.

The seafood consumption of Hong Kong people is double of the average in
the World. According to the figures from the United Nations, seafood
consumption of each Hong Kong citizen per day is 58 kilograms, which is
twice of the average consumption in the World. While Sai Kung is one of the
largest seafood dining sites, we can deduce that presents a huge demand for
seafood in the community.

Seafood safety is in doubt as the sources are sometimes unknown. Restaurant
owners claimed that their sources are mainly from the South China Sea or Sai
Kung Port Shelter, and a small portion of customers would bring their seafood
bought from markets and ask restaurants to cook for them. The sea water
quality has a direct relationship to the safety of seafood. Figure 1 shows the
content of faecal coliforms and Escherichia coli, the two bacteria that threaten
human health, in a water control zone in the Sai Kung Port Shelter. About the
bring-in food from customers, which may come from fish markets or even
fishing, seafood have a possibility to be contaminated with bacteria in the
processing and storage stages. Due to the wide variety of sources, the health
of eaters may be adversely affected.
Social effects

Personal safety problem arises, since fire exits of buildings are sometimes
blocked by restaurants facilities. According to our surveys, in the main resort
along the seafront of Man Nin Street, the upper floors of building are mainly
rented by seafood restaurants for storing goods or facilities, and others are
mostly occupied by lessees. If lessees live in the same floor with the store
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rooms of seafood restaurants, the fire exits are often filled with goods and
storages, this endangers the personal safety of the residents in event of fire.

Population in Sai Kung is expected to increase, from 407,100 in 2005 to
475,000 in 20154(Figure 2). As they are part of the community, the increase in
population can be interpreted that an increase number of stakeholders will be
influenced by pollution generated by the seafood restaurants.

Social order may be interfered when tables and chairs are placed at the
seafront pedestrian pavement along Man Nin Street in Sai Kung, and the
pavement available to citizens and the general public is narrower than normal
relatively. Besides, the active promotion activities by the restaurant staffs may
also be considered a nuisance to some tourists and visitors.

From the interview with a patrolling inspector from Food and Environmental
Hygiene Department, the restaurant owners have registered for placing
facilities outdoor. However, according to our observation on the spot, we
doubted if the area they occupied has exceeded what it is permitted since the
restaurant staff sometimes even wash bowls or other tableware on the street.
Political effects

More political restrictions evolved as community awareness raises, which in
turn become a financial burden to restaurant owners. The Smoking (Public
Health) Ordinance (Cap.371) 5 , which has recently been passed by the
Legistrative Council and will be effective from 1 January 2007, was
commented by restaurant owners that the ordinance may discourage
customers who are smokers, and decrease their business ultimately. Other
legal regulations include Noise Control Ordinance (Cap. 400), Water Pollution
Control Ordinance (Cap. 358), Marine Fish Culture Ordinance (Cap. 353), and
Waste Disposal Ordinance (Cap. 354).
4
Planning Department, Projected Hong Kong Resident Population by District Council District, 2006,
http://www.pland.gov.hk/info_serv/statistic/tables/HP_Table1_en.pdf
5
Hong Kong Tobacco Control Office, Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance, 2006,
http://www.tobaccocontrol.gov.hk/eng/loadframe.html?id=46
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Political advising schemes are not implemented. For instance, the Quality
Seawater Assurance Scheme6, which was initiated on 19 January, 2006 and
aims to enhance the quality of supplied and assist seafood traders to have
better control of the quality of fish tank water for compliance with the
prescribed legal standards. However, we found few restaurants have
participated in the scheme since it is not compulsory.

Communication channels are insufficient. We have tried to contact members
of the District Council through the “Meet-the-Public Scheme7” by phones and
on site in different period over five times, but we got no responses on phone
or being told that the staff on duty was working outside the office. A lessee
that we have interviewed, Ms. Lam, also faced the same difficulty in seeking
assistance from governmental organizations in Sai Kung.
Economic effects

Tourists are the major source of customers, and the number has been
increasing. The number of visitors to Hong Kong rises from 13,725,332 in
2001 to 23,359,417 in 2005 8 , which means there is an upward trend of
incoming potential customers for seafood restaurants. Although Hong Kong
Tourism Board has initiated a few stimulating events such as the Seafood
Festival and outdoor cafe plan after SARS period in 2003, seafood restaurant
owners think that the effect or support has been diminishing. Figure 3 shows
the visitor arrivals from 2001 to 2005.

Thirsted for attracting more customers to Sai Kung, some restaurant owners
are planning a car-free zone for a selected period of time as a measure to
stimulate tourism. This measure will result in more tourists to Sai Kung on
weekdays, and the consumption will be enhanced there. However, the
restaurant owners feel that their suggestions are neglected without responses.
6
Hong Kong Productivity Council, 2006,
http://www.hkpc.org/qsas/eng/index.htm
7
Sai Kung District Council, 2006,
http://www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/sk_d/text_english/public.htm
8
Hong Kong Tourism Board,
http://www.tourism.gov.hk/english/statistics/statistics_perform.html
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2. Stakeholders Awareness & Capacities; Issues and
Gap Analysis
In this section, we will discuss the wants and needs of various stakeholders, and in
particular, their awareness on sustainable development and carrying capacities of the
seafood restaurant sector in Sai Kung.
2.1 Stakeholders’ wants and needs
All principal stakeholders share a common vision: they all want the seafood restaurant
sector in Sai Kung to thrive and be sustainable. However, each major group has their own
self-serving wants and needs. The details are as follows:
Restaurant owners: Rise in revenue and profitability; more promotion to foreign tourists;
less rigid government laws and regulations; lower business taxes and sewage charges;
sustainable supply of Sai Kung’s domestic seafood, which is perceived as more fresh and
delicious.
Tourists and customers: Delicious seafood; comfortable dining environment; free from
health hazard; high hygienic standard of restaurants; minimization of seafood poisoning
risk; value-for-money food and services; preservation of local characteristics;
Employees: Safe working environment (e.g. minimization of risk of fire, sufficient
ventilation and air-conditioning system); job security and salary protection; good
employer-employee relationship; flexibility in working practices (i.e. do not have to
adhere to rigid rules and procedures).
Nearby residents: Comfortable and hygienic living environment; free from noise, air,
smell and wastes treatment disturbances; free from fire hazard; property value be
enhanced by the presence of seafood restaurants and the heavy tourists flow
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Fishermen: Sustained supply and availability of domestic marine fish resources; improve
seawater quality in Sai Kung; financial and infrastructure support from the government;
increase artificial reefs to revive fish population.
Government: Balance of interests between various stakeholders; minimize waste water
effluents, solid wastes and environmental impact of the restaurant operations; adoption of
the polluter-pay principle; protect the fish sources; encourage reduce, reuse and recycle;
promote tourism in Sai Kung; increase local employment; facilitate economic
development and sustainability of the sector.
2.2 Stakeholders’ awareness and capacities
Among all relevant stakeholders, both the lessees and residents nearby the Sai Kung
seafood street express their concerns to the noise disturbance and environmental impact
of the seafood restaurants. They complain that the long working hours of restaurants
(from 11am to 11pm daily and until 2am during festival sessions) affect their sleep and
life quality seriously and that no effective remedy is being implemented by the restaurant
owners at present. Another major externality is the pest problem arises from the
inappropriate waste treatment of seafood restaurants. This brings rats and cockroaches to
their houses, which raises hygiene problem, and endangers their health ultimately.
The restaurant owners, however, appear quite apathetic to the suffering of residents. They
insist that they have readily contained their environment impact to a minimal level. Their
prime concern is rather, the rising environmental costs resulted from the increasingly
rigid and stringent governmental regulations, as well as the rising sewage effluent charges.
Some of them are furious of the recent legislation of the Smoking (Public Health)
Ordinance (Cap.371)9, which prescribed that all indoor areas in restaurant premises are
to be designated as “No Smoking Area” effective from January 1, 2007. They worry that
9
Tobacco Control Office, Department of Health,
http://www.tobaccocontrol.gov.hk/eng/loadframe.html?id=161
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the smoke ban will drive their smoking customers away and result in a significant decline
in revenue. Besides, the restaurant owners also complain of the diminishing “SARS
effect” support from the Government, where the Tourism Board had initiated numerous
campaigns to reinvigorate the tourism in Sai Kung like the Seafood Festival and outdoor
café plan in 2003, but some of these measures are discontinued subsequently.
Employees hold an ambiguous attitude to the smoke ban. While some of them agree that
the legislation will provide them a “fresher” working environment, they concern of the
practical difficulties and potential confrontations with customers in implementing the
statute, some of them also worry that the smoke ban may have an adverse impact on the
restaurants’ profitability and in turn, affect their job security.
Tourists and customers share neither the concerns of the residents and the restaurant
owners. The top priority on their list is the safety of the seafood. They are all aroused by
the news of the use of poison in fish farming in the Mainland China. They wish to have
safe and delicious seafood, comfortable and hygienic dining environment and value-formoney food and services. Some foreign tourists also quote that they wish to see
preservation of local characteristics, which they regard as a tourist attraction. However, a
majority of them do not think that they have a major role to play in improving the
livelihood of the nearby residents and the conservation of Sai Kung fish resources.
Generally, they are not enthusiastic to the ideas of consumer actions, such as not to visit
seafood restaurants after 11pm, increasing the fish prices to support local fisheries or
supporting labeling of environmental products.
Till the end of the report period, we have not succeeded in arranging a meeting with the
members of the district council or government officials. However, from the feedback
from the Sai Kung residents, it appears to us that the district council of Sai Kung is
dominant by the interested groups affiliated with the restaurant owners. Some local
people complain to us that the policymakers often biased in favor of those interested
groups. For instance, the seafood restaurants are now allowed to register for placing
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dining tables and chairs in outdoor areas, but the pedestrian pavement at the seafront is
much narrower than before.
2.3 Issues and Gap Analysis
Our baseline research has identified various gaps between the expectation and the status
quo among stakeholders relevant to the seafood restaurant sector in Sai Kung. The issues
include:
Gap A: Restaurant owners v nearby residents
The seafood restaurant operations have exerted severe environmental impact, hygienic
problems and nuisances to the nearby residents and the adjacent areas. The livelihood of
residents is seriously impaired, however, at present, there are no effective organizations
or means to unite them together to strive for their desired rights and living standard. In
future, education, knowledge and awareness of the Sai Kung community has to be
enhanced, so that the residents would unite together and proactively express their views
and ideas, and take practical action to realize their sustainable vision.
Gap B: Tourists and customers v nearby residents
The tourists and customers are the main sources of noise pollution in the seafood
restaurant sector. The problem is especially evident during the festival sessions, such as
the Lunar New Year, Christmas and New Year holidays. While the tourists and customers
are happily dining, chatting, and celebrating, the residents suffer many sleepless nights
and are not compensated.
Gap C: Role of mass media: Social watchdog v promoter
Mass media could reach a very large audience effectively and possess the power of
shaping the mass behavior in a relative short time span. They could have played a role in
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integrating various stakeholders to achieve a sustainable development of the Sai Kung
seafood restaurants. However, although there are reports of food poisoning cases of
seafood restaurants, our survey on samples of the newspapers and magazine articles
indicate that the mass media usually assists to promote the restaurants’ businesses (such
as by boosting how tasty the seafood dishes are) and avoid making any adverse
comments on the restaurants. We suspect that this may possibly due to the existing
advertising relations between the mass media and seafood restaurants.
Gap D: Fishermen’s dilemma: Fish now, starve later v conservation
Fishing is a common property resource in the sense that everyone has access to. A
fisherman who tries to conserve stock by leaving fish in the sea has no reason for
thinking that he will gain by his investment; on the contrary, if he catches more now he
will be the richer instantaneously, the consequence that there are fewer fish next year will
not be borne by him alone and is spread across the entire fishing community, therefore, it
is always better to realize the benefits now, since the proximity of profiting from
conservation is too dim. As such, in absence of effective regulations, the conservation of
fish resources in Sai Kung is a distant dream.
Gap E: Employees v restaurant owners (employers)
Employees are welcome to the enactment of the minimum wages and maximum working
hour legislation proposed by some legislators, which they perceive that this could
possibly improve their living standard and quality of life. However, the employers are
skeptical to the proposal since they worry that this could impede their competitiveness
and profitability.
Gap F: Sai Kung district Council: Representative of restaurant owners?
The district council plays a pivotal role in the environmental policy formation processes
of Hong Kong. However, our survey on Sai Kung residents reveals that the district
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council representatives often bias in favor of the restaurants in their decision making and
place little concern on the local residents and environment. In the course of our research,
we intend to arrange an interview with the district council members through their
“meeting the citizen” scheme in order to obtain a more thorough understanding on the
interaction between various stakeholders of the Sai Kung seafood restaurant sector. We
have tried to contact them for half a dozen times via various channels, disappointingly,
there is no response to our inquiries. From this experience, we infer that the district
council members of Sai Kung may be apathetic to the local residents’ needs as well.
In general, our gap analysis indicates that the current situation falls short of the object of
sustainability:

There is a lack of an integrated approach to facilitate that all stakeholders’
concerns are appropriately addressed.

People do not have sufficient access to information on government policies,
available funding and services. The existing groups of residents are too
fragmented and small to exert power in negotiation with the other
stakeholders such as the restaurant owners and the government on matters of
the development of sustainability measures in the Sai Kung area.

People expressed a pessimistic attitude towards their future and they do not
have much information on ways to express their opinion to the public or
government even they are not satisfied with the current situation.

Most people do not have the concept of sustainability and have weak
environmental awareness.
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3. Alternative generations
Building up a culture of collaboration among Sai Kung people
According to our baseline survey concerning operation and impacts of seafood
restaurants, quality of environment is a common concern of tourists and residents. Some
residents claim that they choose to live in Sai Kung because of the fresh air and silent
environment. However, when we conduct interviews and study the minutes of district
council, we reveal that people usually report hygiene problem individually to the
government departments. They do not have any non-governmental organizations or
collective actions to resolve the problems. This kind of vertical and hierarchical helpseeking rather than horizontal networking among residents is unfavorable to develop
social capital.10 As it is shown that there is low sense of belongingness and collaboration
among the residents, the most important task is to establish the sense of community in Sai
Kung.
In addition, the development of Sai Kung as a “Hong Kong back garden” or “tourist
spot” 11 is top-down planning by the government. There are not many domestic
consultations carried out in the Sai Kung community. As we have identified previously,
some of the Sai Kung people may prefer developing Sai Kung as a green community in
order to attract more tourists, suggestions like setting up car-free zone in Sai Kung are
proposed, but government does not yield any positive feedbacks to those suggestions.
In the Wan Chai urban renewal project, the opinions of local people are widely consulted.
Opinions of elderly, housewife, shop owners and other different stakeholders are
10
Putnam, Robert, Making Democracy Work – Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, 1993, Princeton:
Princeton University Press
11
Hong Kong Tourism Board, Hong Kong Back Garden Tour - Sai Kung, 2006,
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/touring/kung/ta_kung_138590.jhtml
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collected and their interests are under consideration in the urban renewal project.12 The
Wan Chai experience is a good reference for the government in planning of a sustainable
Sai Kung.
Promoting concept of sustainable tourism
On the other hand, although Hong Kong has participated in 2002 International Year of
Ecotourism, there is not any long term planning on how to incorporate concept of
sustainable development in developing eco-tourism. In the Sustainable Development Unit
of the government, there are also no indicators of any official planning of eco-tourism
development in this aspect. However, Agenda 21 has already included sustainable
tourism as one of their major focus since 2002.13
Seafood restaurant in Sai Kung is not only a community issue but is an integral part of
the Hong Kong tourism sector. Hong Kong government should extend the sustainability
concept to the development of tourism. Sai Kung community should have the initiative to
develop local indicators based on the concept of sustainable tourism to monitor the
sustainability and raise the awareness of the general public. It can also be an attempt to
enhance the awareness of the Hong Kong society and tourists on environmental
conservation and district interests in development of tourism.
The central challenge mentioned in the Agenda 21 that the sector has to address is: “How
can the expected sector growth be managed in such a way as to ensure that it can be
commercially successful through a quality development that avoids environmental and
social degradation?” In the European Tourism Forum 2002 14 , it analyzes progress of
tourism sector and finds the followings are the key to attain sustainable tourism:
12
Cook, Alison and Mee Kam Ng. Building Sustainable Communities: the Wanchai Experiment, 2001,
Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, Centre for Urban Planning and Environmental Management.
13
Division for Sustainable Development, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs ,
Sustainable tourism, 2005,
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/tourism/tourism.htm
14
European Tourism Forum 2002, Agenda 21 - Sustainability, 2002,
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/services/tourism/tourism_forum/documents/discussion_es.pdf
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sustainable behavior of tourists, sustainable destination development and sustainable
supply chain management.
Awareness of the tourists about sustainable development affects their consumption
pattern which determines the successfulness of sustainable tourism. For destination
development, it should integrate tourism development, the carrying capacity of the
destination and benefit to the indigenous community. In the process, different stakeholder
in the community should build up partnership relationship and participate in the
governance. Seafood restaurant is part of the supply chain that should be developed to
provide sustainable tourist product, in the process, any negative impact should be reduced
and external cost shall be internalized. In order to promote sustainability in seafood
restaurant, building up the awareness of restaurant owners and employees is very
important, besides, the government shall also consider providing incentives (such as tax
incentives for installation of pollution reduction facilitates) to induce the restaurant
owners to adapt the cutting-edge green technology to minimize the environment impact
of their operations.
Practical Actions
Based on our aim to encourage community participation and framework of sustainable
tourism, we propose the following measures:
3.1 Partnership for governance
The core of sustainable development is to facilitate local collaboration and participation
in order to attain the goal of sustainable development in Sai Kung community. So the
“Sai Kung Our Home!” project is proposed. Firstly, a survey can be conducted to gather
the domestic opinions of Sai Kung people on the natural and living environment, and
their long term vision of Sai Kung sustainable development. The major problems inherent
in the district and obstacles to future development are collected and they are brought to
be discussed in an open forum with active participation of the Sai Kung citizens. The
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common interests of Sai Kung people can be figured out in the forum. The results of
discussion can be delivered to residents, district council and the general public of Hong
Kong through mass media. The object of this project is to identify the opinions of Sai
Kung people and set stage for these local perspectives to be integrated with the
development plans of the government and the expectation of the entire Hong Kong
society. The survey and forum can be done periodically so as to boost the solidarity of Sai
Kung society and draw the Sai Kung public together on specific issues related to
sustainable development.
3.2 Monitoring and facilitating changes in Sai Kung district
Besides the survey and forum, some monitoring and regulating measures can be carried
out by a Working Committee which composes of some attentive residents, various shop
owners and representatives from the district council, which has a common objective to
pursue sustainable development in Sai Kung, to fight against threats to sustainable
development. This Working Committee can channel the potential threats to practical
solutions, exert pressure on relevant government department and collaborate with district
council to deal with the issues.
The laws in Hong Kong can adequately protect the natural environment and living
environment in Sai Kung. There is strict requirement in Noise Control Ordinance, Water
Pollution Control Ordinance and Waste Disposal Ordinance
Accommodation arrangement
16
15
, Outside Seating
and Fire Services Ordinance 17 . However, the critical
point is whether the implementation is effective. To deal with the environmental and
social issues related to seafood restaurant, poor water quality of Sai Kung waterfront,
poor hygiene, abuse of public space, blockage in fire exit, poor management of solid
waste and noise disturbance should be regularly monitored. Meanwhile, only the first two
15
Environmental Protection Department, One-stop License and Permit Information - Food & Restaurant
Trade, 2006
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/partnership/eng/food_guide.htm
16
Food and Hygiene Department, Main Licensing Conditions for Restaurants providing OSA, 2006,
http://www.fehd.gov.hk/howtoseries/forms/new/OSA%20Guide.Eng(4.2006).pdf
17
Fire Service Department, Ordinance and Regulations, 2003,
http://www.hkfsd.gov.hk/home/eng/fs_ordinance.html
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items have already been regularly inspected according to the meeting minutes of Sai
Kung District Council. Blockage of fire exit, abuse of public space, noise disturbance and
poor management of solid waste are only inspected when complaints are reported. At
current stage, the collaboration of the local community is weak, regular checking by the
proposed Working Committee can serve to alert the restaurant owners of their
environmental responsibility.
In the course of our research, we discover that the meeting frequency of the Sai Kung
District Council is the lowest among 18 districts in Hong Kong. 18 We should maintain a
skeptical attitude on whether the District Council has adequately upheld their
responsibility to deal with complaints in the district.
3.3 Practice of seafood restaurant
On the other hand, in order to guarantee the products of seafood restaurant are sustainable
and beneficial to local community, standard should be set and scheme should be planned
to help identify environmental friendly and sustainable seafood restaurants in Sai Kung.
Meanwhile, the Green Council in Hong Kong is promoting the Hong Kong Green Label
Scheme. 19 Product environmental criteria have been established for a wide variety of
consumer products like paper product, plastic product, cleaning product and etc. However,
this scheme is not popular in Hong Kong and is only restricted to consumer products at
present. A similar scheme called Bay Area Green Business Program
20
is initiated by
United States government. Participants of the scheme have to be in compliance with
regulations and meet standards for conserving resource, preventing pollution and
reducing waste. Some frameworks are also developed for firms to be more environmental
friendly. And the scheme has expanded to numerous industries, including restaurants and
Sing Tao Press, 西貢區會放四個月大假, 22nd July 2006,
http://hk.news.yahoo.com/060721/60/1qcqy.html
19
Green Council , Hong Kong Green Label Scheme, 2006,
http://www.greencouncil.org/eng/greenlabel/intro.asp
20
Green Bay Area, Green Business Program, 2006,
http://www.greenbiz.abag.ca.gov/
18
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cafes, and different counties in the United States.
The proposed Working Committee can launch similar initiatives in Sai Kung and engage
the entire Hong Kong community to generate a list of ‘green’ seafood restaurants that
have actively contributed to the sustainability of the Sai Kung community. The list should
be renewed and updated semi-annually. The following criteria should be considered:
i) Safety and sustainability of seafood
In order to promote the sustainability of tourist products provided – seafood
dishes in seafood restaurant, the quality of water in water tanking for keeping
seafood and also sources of the seafood should be regulated and inspected.
In 2006, government launches the Quality Seawater Assurance Scheme21. The
scheme aims to enhance the quality of supplied seawater to minimize the risk
of contamination of seafood. The restaurants which use the seawater from
accredited quality seawater supplier or synthetic seawater using marine salts
and tap water can have the Quality Seawater Logo. However, the scheme is
not compulsory and none of the Sai Kung seafood restaurants participate in
the scheme according to our on-site observations and inference from the
relevant government website. This scheme can help customers to be wellinformed and make their wise choice to safeguard their health.
For the source of seafood, government has drafted the Code of Practice on the
Import and Sale of Live Marine Fish for Human Consumption 22 in 2004. The
code advises the importers, wholesalers and retailers to maintain records of
the supplies and distribution of all live marine fish with details. When there is
a health incident, government can trace the problems of the seafood source
immediately. In addition, it provides information for customers to distinguish
21
Hong Kong Productivity Council, Quality Seawater Assurance Scheme, 2006,
http://www.hkpc.org/qsas/
22
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department , Code of Practice on the Import and Sale of Live Marine
Fish for Human Consumption, 2006,
www.fehd.gov.hk/safefood/library/Ciguatera_fish/fish_cop_e.pdf
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whether the restaurants are importing seafood from sustainable seafood
supplier or not. However, our research indicates that not many companies
have followed the code so far.
For those restaurants which have the Quality Seawater Logo and follow the
Code of Practice concerning sources of seafood, they are eligible to be
included in the list.
ii) Benefit to indigenous economy
Besides the sustainability of tourist products, we shall also consider their
contribution to indigenous community. Tourism business can invigorate the
local economy but it is a matter of doubts about how much benefit has
actually brought to the local people. Within the Working Committee, different
stakeholders should compromise on the percentage of staff that should be
employed locally in Sai Kung and the minimum wage of employment in order
to protect interests of local people. Representatives of employee in the
committee are encouraged to conduct survey on satisfaction of working
condition regularly.
iii) Reduction
of
negative
impacts:
utilizing
and
maintenance
of
environmental friendly technology
For another criterion, to reduce the negative impacts on the environment and
living condition, seafood restaurants’ owners should have good maintenance
and installation of advance technology to facilitate management of waste and
reduction in pollution.
To enable the large amount of food wastes generated from seafood restaurant
operations to be processed in an environment friendly manner, food waste
composter can be used to transform the food waste into organic fertilizers
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which can be sold and use in the farms in Hong Kong.23 This can reduce the
amount of food waste need to be stored in and transported from the seafood
restaurant. Better treatment of the food wastes can reduce spread of insects
and rats and also reduce the pressure on the landfill site in Hong Kong.
Before startup of a restaurant in Hong Kong, the kitchen exhaust system,
ventilating system, drainage consideration and treatment of waste water are
inspected before licensing of food premise. 24 Technologically, air pollution,
noise pollution and water pollution should have been greatly reduced by this
procedure. However, under the current regime, there is no regular ongoing
inspection from the government to monitor the performance of these systems.
The restaurant owners should uphold the responsibility to the system
maintenance.
3.4 Building up capacity of customers, restaurant owners and employees
In order to ensure that our proposed measures will be functioned effectively, restaurant
owners shall be encouraged to commit to pursue the goal of sustainability relentlessly and
they should develop their vision of sustainable Sai Kung. Restaurant owners in the
committee should promote the vision proactively. Courses and forums can be held
regularly to convey the importance of sustainable development and communicate the role
that they can contribute. The Green Restaurant Association, an international organization,
has a set of environmental guidelines and the Environmental Protection Department of
Hong Kong Government has published “A Practical Guide Book towards Environmental
Friendly Restaurant”. Both are good materials that can be used. The guide book
published by Hong Kong government also contains sections which advise the restaurants
on how to educate their employees about sustainable development. This can enable that
the principles of sustainability will be effectively implemented in everyday operations.
23
24
Green Restaurant, http://www.greenrestaurant-hk.org/
Food and Hygiene Department, General design and construction of food premises, 2006, http://www.fehd.gov.hk/
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However, the most effective way to improve the practices of seafood restaurant
fundamentally is the response of the customers (who are mainly tourists). If the
customers have the awareness of sustainability and choose to dine only in restaurants
which has committed to sustainable development, the response of the seafood restaurants
to the green initiatives will be more positive. To facilitate customer awareness, leaflets,
which include introduction to the concept of sustainable development and the list of
seafood restaurants that meet the prescribed standard of sustainability, should be
distributed to the tourists at the bus terminus, minibus stop and car park in Sai Kung town
center, so that the tourists and customers are able to make environmental-friendly
consumption decisions.
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4. The feedback from stakeholders about alternatives
4.1 Feedback from residents near the seafood street
The residents live adjacent to the seafood street mainly concern about the hygiene and
noise pollution problems. In the survey, Ms. Lam is the key informant. She began to rent
a flat in the area in 2003 in sight of a quiet life in Sai Kung. Her demand was met during
the SARS epidemic, when not many visitors were willing to dine out in Hong Kong and
the seafood restaurants in Sai Kung had had a very hard time to sustain operations. Few
customers caused little noise and hygiene problems. However, when the business of the
seafood restaurants rebounded strongly in the post-SARS period (as the seafood
restaurants in Sai Kung became the sightseeing spots in the schedule of newly designed
local tour), problems such as waste disposal, noise pollution, hygiene problem and the
blockage of fire exit emerged.
Food waste
We have proposed various alternatives to the present status. To address the hygiene
problem, we suggest that the restaurants should install the food waste composer to treat
the food waste. When we introduced the concept of food composer to the residents
surveyed, they all seem curious about the mechanism of the machine and wonder how the
machine can reduce 90% of the size of food waste. They agreed that the food composer
might help to remedy the problems of cockroaches and rats and support the idea of
environmental friendly method of waste treatment, since when the food waste is
discarded in the composer, there would be less supply of food sources for cockroach and
rats. However, residents did not have much confidence that the seafood restaurants would
set up the composer at their own initiative. The residents thought the owners of seafood
restaurants were selfish and blamed them for always place profit-making the first priority.
In the atmosphere of stress on environmental conservation in Hong Kong, all the
residents support the idea of installment of composers in seafood restaurants and hope the
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government would issue guidelines and regulations on this issue.
Waste disposal
Some residents complained that restaurants disposed their wastes in the rubbish bins in
the vicinity; even through the refuse dump is not far from the seafood street. The alleys
are often filled with the untreated food wastes. We suggest that the Food and
Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) should inspect the waste disposal at the
back-streets more frequently. Residents regarded that this is a passive method because the
FEHD will not pay much attention to the pollution generated by the restaurants unless the
residents report to the department. During our survey, we met an inspector of FEHD on
Man Min Street, and he revealed that he was assigned to inspect the hygiene of
restaurants only after the department received complaints. He had no responsibility to
inspect the area regularly if there is no complaint. Due to the fact that no charges are
imposed on the restaurants for waste disposal; we would suggest the government to come
up with some charging scheme on large amount of waste disposal and restrict the abusive
usage of public refuse collection services.
Noise
Amongst all the externalities generated by restaurants, most residents feel the noise
pollution is the most unacceptable one. Ms. Lam said most of the restaurants close at
about eleven o’clock at night in weekdays. However, the problem becomes very serious
in the weekends and public holidays. The customers of the seafood restaurants are mainly
Hong Kong people (not foreign tourists) and they enjoy playing cards, mahjong or other
games very loudly. Much of the undesired noise pollution occurs after eleven o’clock.
This makes Ms. Lam cannot take a rest easily in the holiday nights. We asked her opinion
about a compulsory measure that all restaurants must close before 11pm. She supported
the proposed alternative without hesitation. We believe this measure is not difficult to
implement because that the zone is a private area and many other places in Hong Kong
has also set up the similar rule. For example, the restaurants in Sung Kit Street in
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Hunghom, which is famous for housing different kinds of cuisines, must close before
11pm. Moreover, based on our observations, a majority of customers will not stay very
late. And the customers that stay very late probably would not consume much seafood
during the midnight hours. Therefore, we do not expect that the restaurants would oppose
this compulsory measure too strongly.
Blockage of fire exit
Outdoor restaurant is a kind of exotic style restaurants that is welcomed by Hong Kong
people. Nevertheless, the development and spread of outdoor restaurant does not have
great progress in Hong Kong in recent years. One of the reasons is that the application
procedures for an outdoor restaurant are too complex. In the Sai Kung seafood street,
however, we found that many restaurants occupied the public area. They put many chairs,
tables and water tanks outside the area belonging to them. The tables and chairs blocked a
substantial part of the passage. Pedestrians were not easy to go through when the passage
was crowd, especially during the holidays. We checked that ‘Hung Kei’ has already
applied the license of outdoor restaurant. But we are not sure whether all other restaurants
have appropriately applied for the license.
Some residents mentioned that restaurants do not only block and jam the public passage,
but also obstruct the entrance of stairs. The criticism was verified by our observations.
Being asked by us about the legality of the outdoor operations, the residents expressed
that the restaurants always occupy a larger area than what they are permitted to use. Even
through in the case that the restaurant is allowed to use the open space, the extent to
which they are allowed to use is frequently not explicitly defined. Furthermore, no
resident has been informed or consulted by the government about this issue. This reveals
fundamental weakness and lack of transparency in the policy formation procedures at the
government. The residents thought that there is no channel through which they could
learn about their rights and obtain information to monitor whether the practices of the
seafood restaurants has violated the license permits. Residents suggested that police or
officials of FEHD should prosecute the seafood restaurants which place their own stuffs
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in front of the stair entrances. Since the residences adjacent to the seafood restaurants
suffer high inherent risk of fire, the fire exit of these buildings should always be clear.
Furthermore, police and staff of FEHD should charge the restaurants, which repeatedly
offend the law. Residents are not satisfied that they need to report again and again to the
authority so that an action is taken. The effect of each complaint report is also temporary
and the seafood restaurants seldom behave in the right manner for long.
Complaint to District Council
We suggest the residents to solve the pollution problem generated by seafood restaurants
by cooperating with district councilors. Most residents surveyed disagree with this
suggestion and show their deep distrust toward district councilors. Ms. Lam claimed that
she knew the councilors who nicknamed ‘Shek’ and ‘Yau’ etc. had the common interest
with the owners of seafood restaurants. It is meaningless and useless to complain to them
because they will not treat the problem seriously. Also, since the district councilors do not
possess strong execution power, residents do not regard District Council as an effective
agency to deal with the local affairs. Furthermore, some of the district councilors are
appointed by the government, they do not have the passion to serve the community and
fail to gain the trust from residents. Ms. Lam suggested some ‘non-Sai Kungese’ should
be allowed to enter the Sai Kung District Council to break the current balance of political
power. She expected the people outside Sai Kung would not be affiliated with the
restaurant owners and would be the real representative of Sai Kung people. However, we
do not think this is an appropriate method and the government will not permit this kind of
political reform. Also no one can guarantee the councilors outside Sai Kung will
necessarily fight against the vested interests in Sai Kung for the right of the local
residents.
The nearby residents generally feel powerless to safeguard their right if the seafood
restaurants violate the regulation. From their response to our alternatives, it showed that
they hoped the government would set the stricter laws and regulations and have them
implemented fully. On the other hand, they are not convinced that the government would
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have the willingness and ability to implement the law strictly. Residents expressed their
interest to the green technology which could minimize the environmental impact of the
restaurant operations, but they were not very confident that the technology would actually
help them. Although the conflicts between residents and seafood restaurant are acute,
there is no evidence that any present mechanism could rectify the situation.
4.2 Feedback from owners of seafood restaurant
The owners of seafood restaurant stressed that the relationship between them and
residents is always harmonious. They claimed that they seldom received complaints from
residents and they felt that residents supported the development of the seafood street. Part
of those claims may be true, but the reply seems too ‘legitimate’ and standardized to be
trusted fully. Anyway, they displayed positive attitude towards the alternatives mentioned
by us.
Technology
Most restaurant owners said that they have installed the good exhaust system already.
They check the system regularly and they are willing to replace the old one if the new
system is much efficient and the price is reasonable. They thought the exhaust system
with better performance would reduce the running cost. That’s why they are not reluctant
to renew the system.
The awareness of customers about safety of cultivating water is growing in recent years.
The restaurants are prohibited from using toilet flushing water as fish-cultivating water,
but there is not a rule about where the fish-cultivating water should be taken from sea.
From our observation, some seafood restaurants in Man Min Street draw the sea water
from the coast. The sea water from the coast is quite dirty and contains dangerous
bacteria because of the presence of the shelter, which restricts the fresh water flow. The
boats in shelter discharge polluted sewages into the sea and the sea water there are drawn
by the seafood restaurants for cultivating fishes at the stalls. When we enquired the
restaurant owner where the source of sea water was, he replied that the water was drawn
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from sea and the water was filtered by a machine. ‘That machine costs us a lot,’ the
owner pointed at the machine and said. However, we suspect whether the filtering
machine can effectively filter out all the harmful bacteria. When being asked why they
didn’t use artificial salt mixing up fresh water to obtain fish-cultivating water, the owner
reiterated that they have invested a lot on the filtering machine and it is reliable. Also
they claimed that the FEHD frequently checks the water quality at their stalls. There is
not necessary for them to use the artificial salt to generate the fish cultivating water so far.
Tourist and promotion
Five different restaurants are present on the seafood street. Chuen Kei and Tung Kei are
two of the largest restaurants and the rest restaurants are much smaller. We interviewed
the owner of Chung Hing Lee and asked what he had done to attract more customers. He
said that his restaurant is not easy to expand to accommodate more tourists due to the
limited land space. Unlike Tung Kei and Chuen kei, Chung Hing Lee does not have large
open area. On the weekday night, we observed that Chung Hing Lee did not have many
customers because of the poor location. We suggested that he could promote the
restaurant with the tourism broad. The owner revealed that he had cooperated with
tourism broad several years ago. Many resources were needed during the cooperation and
the effect was relatively short-lived. Therefore he had not contacted the tourism broad for
long time. The main source of Chung Hing Kei’s customers is local tourists instead of
foreign tourist. Even though large amount of local tours came to Seafood Street for meals
on holidays, tours usually only went to the large restaurants such as Tung Kei and Chuen
Kei. The owner suggested a way that the government might help them is to reclaim the
sea in front of his shop and to widen the entrance of Seafood Street at the side adjacent to
the fish market. Asked whether he had expressed his idea to district councilors, he said he
did not have much contact with the district councilors and he did not believe much
assistance could be provided.
During the interviews, we found that owners of restaurants were not aware of the fact that
the pollution generated by them might disturb the residents nearby. At the same time, they
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believed that an excellent hygiene condition would improve the reputation of their
restaurants. They were interested to the technologies and alternatives we introduced to
them and they said they would consider installing them in their restaurants provided that
the cost was affordable.
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5. Indicators and monitoring system
Based on the aforementioned alternatives, we use the Pressure-State-Response Model to
summarize the indicators and monitoring system in the seafood restaurant sector in Sai
Kung.
Table 1 Pressure-State-Response Model on the seafood restaurants sector
Pressures
States
Social
(Indicators of
(Indicators of
Response
environmental
environmental
(Indicators
pressures)
conditions)
of societal
response)
Environment
Quality of the
Water Quality
Frequency of
Water pollution
effluents
nearby the sea front checking by Food and
Environmental
Hygiene Department
Number of
Monthly catches in Percentage of seafood
Domestic seafood
customers
Sai Kung
restaurant purchasing
consumption
seafood from
sustainable sources
Amount of Solid
Remaining lifespan Installation of
Lifespan of
Waste
of landfill site
composting machines
Landfill site
Residents
Noise pollution
Closing time of
restaurants
Observation of
amount of rubbish
at alley
Observation of
Pest problem
amount of rubbish
at alley
Use of public space Number of
customers relative
to capacity of
restaurants
Fire exit clearance Amount of goods
and facility in the
staircase
Solid waste
management
Noise level
(Decibel) of the
nearby apartment
after 11 o’clock
Number of report of
complaint
Number of rats
caught or
complaints
Width of pavement
for pedestrians
Accessibility of fire
exit
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Frequency of
checking by Food and
Environmental
Hygiene Department
Frequency of taking
the rubbish to refuse
dump
Frequency of taking
the rubbish to refuse
dump
Frequency of
patrolling by Food
and Environmental
Hygiene Department
Frequency of
patrolling by Fire
Services Department
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Customers
Safety of seafood
Staff
Wage of staff
Percentage of local
staff employed
Working
environment
Other
Other Response to
the issue listed
above
Exploration on sustainability of Seafood Restaurants
- Source of seafood Number of
(sustainable
customers admitted
seafood supplier)
to hospital
- Water quality of
the water tank
cultivating seafood
--
--
Average Income of
lower level staff
Percentage of staff
employed locally
Satisfaction of staff
--
--
--
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- Frequency of
checking by health
and hygiene
department
- Employer and
employee
education to the
handling of
seafood
- Customer
education to
choose sustainable
seafood restaurant
- Minimum wages
legislation
- Result from
regular survey
- Result from
regular survey
- Number of
restaurants in the
list of sustainable
seafood restaurant
in Sai Kung
- Response rate of
regular survey in
Sai Kung
(Measurement of
participation)
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6. Integration with Community
In this part, we incorporate the sector of seafood restaurants into other sectors that
classmates of this course choose to explore for their sustainability: composting, buildings,
transport, scuba and golf club. While some of these interactions with the seafood
restaurant sector may sound too remote, we find that the sustainability of these sectors do
have some elements in common and could facilitate our understanding in the seafood
restaurant sector from a wider context. Relations between these sectors are described
below.
Composting: Restaurants and composting could be closely integrated. The seafood
restaurants business in Sai Kung generates large volume of food wastes in everyday
operations and the mistreatment of the wastes has caused serious externalities on the
adjacent households and environment and placed severe stress on the public resources
such as the landfill site. If the composting technology could be successfully implemented
to the seafood restaurant sector, the food waste could be converted into organic fertilizer
in 24 hours and the size of food waste could be decreased by up to 90%25, the pollution
problem and environment impact of the seafood restaurant operations could be markedly
reduced.
Buildings: Buildings and seafood restaurants could be integrated as well. Our survey
indicates that the seafood restaurant operations have adversely affected the livelihood of
the nearby residents, through channels such as noise pollution, air pollution, solid waste
pollution, etc. By improving the design of the buildings where seafood restaurants and
residents situated with each other, the negative externalities on the livelihood of the
residents could be minimized.
Transport: Transport is the lifeblood of the seafood restaurant sectors, given the fact that
up to 90% of revenue of the seafood restaurants are derived from non-Sai Kung
25
Green Restaurant, http://www.greenrestaurant-hk.org/
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customers (according to our interview with the restaurant owners). Thereby, the
maintenance of an efficient and effective transportation network is essential to the
sustainability of the seafood restaurants in Sai Kung. The present transport network of Sai
Kung relies heavily on the Sai Sha Road and the Hiram’s Highway. Traffic congestions
frequently emerge during the holiday sessions. Mass traffic stagnation could have a
potential disastrous impact on the business of seafood restaurants in Sai Kung.
Scuba: Scuba and seafood restaurant interacted through fishermen on the competition of
local fishing resources. While scuba divers want to see the fish and coral when they are
diving in the sea of Sai Kung, the fishermen has a natural incentive to catch as much fish
as possible and sell to seafood restaurants or households for a profit. After the seafood
restaurants buy the fish from the fishermen, they cook it and sell at a mark-up price to
customers, including divers. The balance between scuba and seafood restaurant is delicate,
in the sense that if the seafood restaurants sell too much Sai Kung fish, the divers will see
less fish in the sea of Sai Kung and would probably not visit Sai Kung again, then
ultimately, the seafood restaurants will suffer.
Golf Club: The golf club in Kau Sai Chau interacts with the seafood restaurants in two
ways. First, the construction of the golf course extension in recent years may jeopardize
the quality of fish resources in the sea of Sai Kung. Second, since there are no seafood
restaurants at Kau Sai Chau at present and the only mode of transport from the golf club
is the ferry services between Kau Sai Chau and the Sai Kung town centre, therefore,
many hungry golfers may end their days with the Sai Kung seafood restaurants. The
seafood restaurants and the golf club are complementary in servicing tourists in this
regard and cooperation opportunities between the seafood restaurants and the golf club
could be explored.
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The following model describes the relationship, interaction and reinforcement between
various stakeholders. Provided that each community can observe the environmental
concerns and attain sustainable development in their own sector, the entire community is
better off.
Local
Residents
Transport
Golf Course
Seafood Restaurants
Building
design
- Concern on adjacent
environment and community
Composting
Support sustainable fishing
Scuba
diving
and marine ecosystem
Key: Flow of benefit
Overall, an integrated sustainable development model of the seafood restaurant
sector in Sai Kung requires the involvement and commitment of all stakeholders.
While the action and practice of each individual may appear tiny and insignificant
by itself, the collective efforts of “individuals” could make a real difference in our
society. Further, as a general rule, incentives and rewards commensurate with the
costs have to be in presence in order to induce and sustain the environmentally
desirable and socially responsible practices. Today, Sai Kung seafood restaurants
have begun to recognize that environmental action could create some degree of
alignment between socially responsible and increasing shareholder value. The mass
media of Hong Kong could play a proactive role to enhance the environmental
awareness of the Hong Kong society, alternates the consumption behaviors of Hong
Kong people, which in turn, induces improvement the operating practices of the
seafood restaurants, and ultimately, facilitates the attainment of sustainability in the
Sai Kung community.
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Constraints of the report and further studies
Our group has confronted some constraints and limitations in the course of our research,
we would like to highlight them in this section and further studies might be warranted.

We have tried to contact members of the District Council through the ‘Meet-thePublic Scheme’ by phones and emails, but we did not get any responses. We have also
visited directly the district councilor offices but the officer there told us councilors
would not stay in office if there was no prior appointment. The unavailability of the
district councilors obstructs us from obtaining a diverse source of feedback to the
problems identified and the alternatives generated. On the other hand, it shows that
the function of District Council is not satisfactory and certain reforms should be
implemented to improve the responsiveness of District Council to citizen’s concerns.

Some informants tend to tell us the ideal condition that makes us difficult to reveal
the truth. For instance, though there are reports that restaurant owners are using sea
water directly as the fish-cultivating water in order to reduce the operating cost, we
cannot prove the allegations as the restaurant owners and employees may not tell us
the truth for their benefits.
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7. References
Cook, Alison and Mee Kam Ng. Building Sustainable Communities: the Wanchai
Experiment, 2001, Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, Centre for Urban Planning and
Environmental Management.
Division for Sustainable Development, United Nations Department of Economic and
Social Affairs , Sustainable tourism, 2005,
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/tourism/tourism.htm
Environmental Protection Department, One-stop License and Permit Information - Food
& Restaurant Trade, 2006
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/partnership/eng/food_guide.htm
European Tourism Forum 2002, Agenda 21 - Sustainability, 2002,
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/services/tourism/tourism_forum/documents/discussion_es.p
df
Fire Service Department, Ordinance and Regulations, 2003,
http://www.hkfsd.gov.hk/home/eng/fs_ordinance.html
Food and Hygiene Department, Main Licensing Conditions for Restaurants providing
OSA, 2006,
http://www.fehd.gov.hk/howtoseries/forms/new/OSA%20Guide.Eng(4.2006).pdf
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department , Code of Practice on the Import and Sale
of Live Marine Fish for Human Consumption, 2006,
http://www.fehd.gov.hk/safefood/library/Ciguatera_fish/fish_cop_e.pdf
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, General design and construction of food
premises, 2006, http://www.fehd.gov.hk/publications/code/allc_2.htm
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Green Bay Area, Green Business Program, 2006,
http://www.greenbiz.abag.ca.gov/
Green Council , Hong Kong Green Label Scheme, 2006,
http://www.greencouncil.org/eng/greenlabel/intro.asp
Green Restaurant, http://www.greenrestaurant-hk.org/
Hong Kong Productivity Council, Quality Seawater Assurance Scheme, 2006,
http://www.hkpc.org/qsas/
Hong Kong Tobacco Control Office, Department of Health,
http://www.tobaccocontrol.gov.hk/eng/loadframe.html?id=161
Hong Kong Tobacco Control Office, Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance, 2006,
http://www.tobaccocontrol.gov.hk/eng/loadframe.html?id=46
Hong Kong Tourism Board,
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/gourmet/fdistrict/gp_food_sai.jhtml
Hong Kong Tourism Board,
http://www.tourism.gov.hk/english/statistics/statistics_perform.html
Lipsey, Courant and Ragan (1999). Economics, Twelfth Edition, Addison Wesley
Knox, Marston and Nash (2004). Human Geography: Places and regions in global
context, Pearson
Planning Department, Projected Hong Kong Resident Population by District Council
District, 2006, http://www.pland.gov.hk/info_serv/statistic/tables/HP_Table1_en.pdf
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SOSC 562 / SOSC 301E
Exploration on sustainability of Seafood Restaurants
Planning Department of HKSAR Government,
http://www.info.gov.hk/tdd/chi/towns/#1
Putnam, Robert, Making Democracy Work – Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, 1993,
Princeton: Princeton University Press
Sai Kung District Council, 2006,
http://www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/sk_d/text_english/public.htm
Sing Tao Press, 西貢區會放四個月大假, 22nd July 2006,
http://hk.news.yahoo.com/060721/60/1qcqy.html
World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1987)
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SOSC 562 / SOSC 301E
Exploration on sustainability of Seafood Restaurants
Content of faecal coliforms amd Escherichia coli
in a water control zone in the Sai Kung Port Shelter
5000
(per 100ml)
colony-forming unit, cfu
(from 1 January, 1998 to 30 December, 2005)
4000
3000
Faecal Coliforms
Escherichia coli
2000
1000
0
1 23 45 67 89 111 133 155 177 199 221 243 265
Figure 1 Content of faecal coliforms and Escherichia coli in a water control zone in the Sai Kung Port Shelter from 1 January, 1998 to 30 December, 2005
(Source: Environmental Protection Department)
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SOSC 562 / SOSC 301E
Exploration on sustainability of Seafood Restaurants
Projected Hong Kong Resident Population in Sai Kung for 20062015
500000
480000
Number
460000
440000
420000
400000
380000
360000
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Year
Figure 2 Projected Hong Kong Resident Population in Sai Kung for 2006-2015
(Source: Planning Department)
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2014
2015
SOSC 562 / SOSC 301E
Exploration on sustainability of Seafood Restaurants
Visitor arrivals from 2001 to 2005
25,000,000
Number
20,000,000
15,000,000
10,000,000
5,000,000
0
2001
2002
2003
Year
Figure 3 Visitor arrivals from 2001 to 2005
(Source: Tourism Board)
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2004
2005