Saving Horseshoe Crabs through Community Engagement : Experience from Hong Kong

Population of wild horseshoe crabs has been found to have a significant decrease worldwide due to multiple threats including over-exploitation for food and biomedical purpose, as well as habitat degradation. Therefore, comprehensive public awareness initiatives with ex-situ conservation, in-situ conservation, and education are essential in alleviating the problem. Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, Hong Kong(OPCFHK) has joined hands with City University of Hong Kong and started the Juvenile Horseshoe Crab Rearing Programme since 2009, and now the Programme has evolved over the years.
Rearing horseshoe crab in school provides an exceptional learning experience to students. However, the Programme has been extended so that the students are not only committed to the rearing process, but are also offered a chance to initiate community education projects to demonstrate the importance of horseshoe crab conservation. The Programme is well received by the students and is effective in strengthening students’ devotion in further sharing and spreading their knowledge in the community. OPCFHK and participated schools have successfully reached out to over 189,000 audiences since the launch of the Programme in 2009 through various activities including exhibitions, drama shows, seminars, coastal clean-ups and eco-tours. According to teachers’ feedback, positive attitude change of students towards marine conservation was observed and sense of responsibility was generally enhanced.
With the success of inspiring participated students, OPCFHK rolled out the Programme further to engage corporations and their staff. Similar results were obtained that participated staff members were moved by the amazing living fossil.
The Programme has been proved to be an effective tool for conservation education. Schools become more proactive in promoting horseshoe crab conservation among their communities whilst the participated companies mobilize their resources and manpower to conserve this species.