Expected to bring 36,000 new jobs, many observers hope the project will reinvigorate Hong Kong's tourism industry, especially during the current economic slowdown. Tourism is the territory's top foreign currency earner.
But fishing folk like Chan Mok-kun, 61, are not amused by Mickey and his friends.
"We used to haul about 60kg a day. Now we're lucky to get 15kg and they taste of mud. Our nets are full of mud," he said.
"For me, I'm uneducated. I can't do anything else. There aren't jobs around anyway, so I am stuck doing this."
At Penny's Bay, a dredging vessel pulls up close to shore and promptly releases a giant claw. It emerges with a large mound of mud from the seabed and dumps it back on the vessel.
Having eaten its fill half an hour later, the vessel heads for a nearby dumping ground, leaving in its wake a wide trail of oil-slicked bright khaki waters -- which currents then take to fish farms at Ma Wan, a few kilometers away.
Other vessels bring sand and rock into the bay to make a more stable foundation for the theme park. A little more of the water disappears each day.
"This is the worst I've seen," sighed Fok Hei, a fish farmer for more than 30 years, pointing to the waters around him.
Fok and 82 other fish farmers say they suffered losses worth more than HK$35 million last year after contractors dumped mud dredged off Penny's Bay into Yam O, 2km east of Ma Wan.
"The fish kept coming up for air, their gills were filled with dirt. They must have suffered," said Fok.
The dumping at Yam O stopped at the end of 2000, but the effects are still felt.
"Groupers used to take 22 months to mature, now they need 30 months, that's a long time to feed and a lot more money demanded of us. Daily deaths have gone up by 20 to 30 percent," said Fok.
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