For millions around the world, Mickey Mouse means laughter and magic. But for some in Hong Kong, Disney has brought only sadness.
For three generations, Chan Chi-sing's family lived off the sea around their home, but they hung up their nets for good this year when the water turned yellow.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Staring wistfully at it, Chan shakes his head.
"It's a dead sea," he said, his weatherbeaten face tightening.
Dredging and dumping to reclaim land for a planned HK$14.1 billion (US$1.8 billion) Walt Disney theme park have disrupted the lives of what is already a shrinking number of fishing families in the territory.
The entertainment giant says reclamation is the government's responsibility and says there is no evidence that problems faced by the fishermen can be directly linked to the project.
Fishermen and environmentalists, however, say fish stocks have dwindled even further since work began in mid-2000. Some species have disappeared and those hardy enough to survive have stopped spawning.
Chan lives on tiny Peng Chau island, about 2km south of Penny's Bay on Lantau island, where Mickey Mouse and his magic kingdom will set up shop from 2005.
"Polluted waters from (China's) Pearl River Delta reduced fish stocks in the last few years, but Disney was the last straw," he said.
"We can't find many types of fish now. Groupers have even stopped spawning. There aren't red crabs or flower crabs anymore. There used to be so much of them at Penny's Bay," said Chan, who has since found work as a contractor.
Peng Chau's fishing community has dwindled in recent decades along with fish stocks in the area. Many people have quit the island for the city.
But the Disney project seems to have struck another blow and the number of fishing families has fallen to about 30 from 70 before the reclamation work began.
HK works to minimize impact
Hong Kong's government, which has touted the theme park as a major boost for tourism, says some of the problems resulting from the project are not unexpected and are in line with an environmental impact study conducted earlier.
"To some extent, the water quality will be affected but we will control the impact to within acceptable levels," said chief engineer Chan Kin-kwong of the Civil Engineering Department.
A 3.24-km silt curtain and 200m-long barrier of rocks now surround much of Penny's Bay to limit the contamination of nearby waters, Chan said.
Artificial reefs also will be constructed in coming months in a bid to lure back displaced species, he said.
The government regularly monitors 67 sites around Penny's Bay and has given out HK$33.8 million to 1,144 fishermen to encourage them to cast their nets farther afield.
Another HK$2.91 million will be given to fish farmers who have opted to give up their farms. Two other schemes are in place to help those who choose to continue.
A Disney spokeswoman in Hong Kong said: "To date, there's no evidence that links the current issues that the fishermen are saying to the reclamation at Penny's Bay.
"The government continues to monitor this. They've put measures in place on site to address this issue. They've assured us they are taking this seriously."
Economic boon, heartaches
Many people in Hong Kong cannot wait for the 2005 opening of the park. Revenues will be split 57:43 between the Hong Kong government and The Walt Disney Co.
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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