For the next two years, Hong Kong's Ocean Park Conservation Foundation (OPCF) will donate 10 percent of its scientific research funding to study the impact of last month's South Asian tsunami disaster on the marine environment, and to help rebuild damaged corals.

``The tsunami tragedy has left the coastal regions of South Asia in massive need of reconstruction,'' Nora Tam, trustee chair of OPCF, said.

She was speaking on Saturday at the opening ceremony of the foundation's 10th annual Conservation Day held at Ocean Park.

According to the OPCF website, project expenses for year ended June 2002 were just under HK$1 million. Donations received in the period totaled HK$2.1 million. ``In our efforts to conserve, we need to rebuild the coral reefs and fragile coastal ecosystems so that the environment is better than before for both animals and human communities to thrive,'' Tam said.

The foundation was established in 1993 by Ocean Park Corporation. It aims to conserve through research marine mammals and their habitats in Asia. It became an independent charitable organization.

Beginning next month, the foundation will also sponsor six Hong Kong University students to conduct three research projects, including the conservation and management of the Irrawaddy dolphin population in Cambodia's Mekong River and aerial surveys of selected marine mammals off the east coast of Thailand.colum.murphy@globalchina.com