Diners not eating enough sustainable seafood, says WWF-Hong Kong

Only half of the live seafood served in Hong Kong is unsustainable, conservation organisation WWF has revealed following a survey among 57 seafood restaurants in the city.

In 2011, Hongkongers consumed about 71.2kg of seafood per person - more than four times the global average, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Adam Koo Tze-cheung, CEO of WWF-Hong Kong said people should stick to sustainable seafood. Sustainability is determined by whether particular fish species are being eaten faster than they can grow back, whether or not medicine is used to feed the fish and whether or not the way the fish are caught damages the environment.

"Globally, many fisheries are in decline and Hong Kong has an important role to play in this matter," Koo said. "[We can] change our dining habits and choose sustainable seafood products."

Mark Kwok Chi-yat has been breeding giant grouper - a delicacy in Chinese cuisine - on a sustainable basis in an indoor fish farm in Lau Fau Shan in Yuen Long for around 12 years.

At first, he worked with the Kadoorie Agricultural Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong, which helped develop technologies to make his business sustainable.

Now he's selling fish to hotels like the Shangri-La and Hyatt. However, Kwok said it was not easy to convince Hongkongers to choose sustainable seafood.