"An alarming point made in the report is that 37% of the Ramsar Site mudflat was lost to mangroves between 2000 and 2007, an average annual loss of ~20 ha per annum. The intertidal mudflat is the most critical habitat for waterbirds in the Ramsar Site and if this rate is sustained the mudflat within the Ramsar boundary could disappear by 2020!"
I am not sure if I understand this correctly but the above states that the mudflats could disappear by 2020 but to most visitors to the floating hides the mudflats seem to be extending out further and further. In the "old" days the hides used to float with a tide of 1.9M but now that doesn't happen unless the tide is well over 2M.
It was suggested to me, by an Ecologist, years ago that a possible solution to the rising mudflats would be to dredge "sink holes" in the middle of Deep Bay and possibly the mud would recede back into these sink holes.
The map showing the change over the past 30 years (Grey Color) doesn't state if that area lost was to Mangroves or mudflats
