Living Seas Hong Kong has found out from a reliable source that in the middle of June, some five days after the first incident, a Hong Kong fisherman caught another whale shark. The shark was caught in an area near to where the previous reported whaleshark capture was confirmed (click HERE for previous report)
The fisherman called up a fishmonger and wanted HK$50,000 to release the whaleshark. When this offer was refused the fish was taken up to Zhuhai for slaughter.
The terrible situation here is that when this incident was reported to the AFCD no action was taken to protect the animal.
Some serious changes are needed. It would seem that the performance of the AFCD in matters of this kind is well below what we should accept and also there needs to be better cross border co-operation. The fisherman in question should have been caught and prosecuted.
Hong Kong fishermen have been allowed to dictate for too long what happens to our seas. They need to realise that these animals needs to live, are an important part of the marine ecosystem and can bring in serious $$$ to the Hong Kong economy. If they don’t comply they need to be prosecuted.
Living Seas Hong Kong has had a firm committment from the AFCD to raise awareness and education for the fishermen and field AFCD staff with regards to endangered marine animals . However this is useless unless backed up by legislation that protects. The current legislation does not.