Mini-expedition in Ma Wan, Marine Fish Farm with Nicholas and Marco

Today, the MakerBay summer interns Nicholas and Marco went along with Cesar to study the Ma Wan marine fish farms.

Almost a hundred structures can be found there, but all the ones we observed were idle, not fish farming.

The site is easily accessible, by public transport and even by taxi, right off the pier.

The site is like a small city floating in the water. On a lazy Sunday afternoon, people are there, relaxing, sunbathing, doing some minor maintenance works, or gardening plants on the platforms, dogs are barking as we approach.

This is sort of the “main avenue” in the middle of the floating village. Wide-enough to pull a large floating farm and tug it out if necessary. 

We can also see there are many large birds nesting in the quiet area. 

One of the goals of the mini-expedition was to see the biodiversity underwater, especially biofouling. Here is a 360 underwater video. 

If you cannot, or would rather not play a 360 video, here is a traditional 16:9 frame.

We were also interested in the architecture and we were lucky enough to meet fish farmers who told us about how they build, operate, maintain and dispose these farms.

A closeup view of an overgrown rope surrounded by schools of fishes. 

This mini-expedition is connected to the HKU Master of Architecture Program “Marine Floating Laboratory” and Cesar’s Ph.D. Research Proposal for floating marine laboratories.