Qualla: Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park

Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park: Introduction

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Underwaterbuffalo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Somewhere between Hong Kong and the mouth of the Pearl River, in waters that few visitors ever reach, dolphins surface in shades of pink and white. The Chinese white dolphin — *Sousa chinensis chinensis* — is not the city's most photographed animal, but it may be its most quietly remarkable. The Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park was established in November 1996 specifically to protect these dolphins and the unusual ecological conditions that sustain them. Yellow buoys mark the corners of its 1,200 hectares. Inside those boundaries, something rare holds on.

Image: Underwaterbuffalo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park: Where Two Waters Meet

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Geographer, CC BY-SA 3.0. The marine park sits off the western coast of Hong Kong's New Territories, in a zone where the Pearl River's freshwater outflow pushes against the South China Sea. The result is water with a lower salinity than the open ocean and an unusually high load of organic nutrients — cond...

Image: Geographer | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park: The Pink Dolphins

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Geographer, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Chinese white dolphin is a misnomer twice over: the animals are born dark grey and lighten as they mature, eventually turning white — and in the Pearl River Estuary, many develop a distinctive pinkish flush from blood vessels close to the skin. Scientists have debated whether...

Image: Geographer | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park: A Temple Built for the Sea

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Geographer, CC BY-SA 3.0. On the island of Sha Chau stands a Tin Hau Temple, built during the Qing dynasty in 1846. Tin Hau — known also as Mazu — is the goddess of the sea, widely venerated across southern China and Southeast Asia. Fishermen and sailors came to this remote island temple to make offerings...

Image: Geographer | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park: A Reserve in a Working Sea

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Geographer, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park is not a wilderness preserve in any straightforward sense. The waters around it are some of the busiest in the world. Hong Kong International Airport — built on reclaimed land at Chek Lap Kok, just to the south — handles millions of pass...

Image: Geographer | CC BY-SA 3.0