Hong Kong, China The Swire Institute of Marine Science

Our area of Hong Kong is under exceptional development pressures from >100 million residents, but boasts the highest marine biodiversity in all of China, with rich mangrove, oyster, seagrass, and coral communities. SWIMS is well positioned as a MarineGEO observatory for climate change, and the effects of environmental gradients and multiple stressors. 

The Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS) is a research facility of The University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Science, situated on the Cape d’Aguilar peninsula - on the shores of Hong Kong’s only no-take Marine Reserve. Since 1989, SWIMS has provided a first-class research environment for marine scientists and includes two residential blocks on the cliffs overlooking the academic block. The latter was expanded in 2021 featuring new wet labs, clean labs, indoor and outdoor aquaria, and a Biodiversity Outreach Centre.  

SWIMS is home to MarineGEO - Hong Kong, the first partner site in Asia - established in 2015. Since then, SWIMS has become a leading MarineGEO observatory with strength in biodiversity censuses using ARMS, and integrated analysis of biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and environmental data. The latter is supported by extensive public databases on water quality and ecological surveys. Our current corps of researchers hail from multiple disciplines including earth sciences, chemistry, architecture, and a core strength in marine community ecology. SWIMS represents a regional strategic hub for MarineGEO, within China’s Greater Bay Area and supports emerging sites in Jeju, Korea, and the Andaman Islands, India.  

MarineGEO Team

Participating Institutions

iNaturalist