Lack of a cohesive government policy

Living Seas Hong Kong is very concerned about the lack of a cohesive government policy

The Hong Kong government has made some efforts at Marine conservation however the approach has lacked structure and some significant deficiencies can be highlighted in the scope and implementation or these efforts.

 

Missing legislation

1. Allowing fishing in Marine Parks.
   Contrary to most international standards on properly protected marine areas, the AFCD continues to allow fishing via licenses via line or gill nets in the four designated marine parks.  In November 2008 the HK government announced that they were going to ban commercial fishing in the marine parks.  This is a very positive move.  As of September 2013 this goal has amazingly, still not been realised.
2. No protection for marine animals.  Wild animals protection Ordinance (Chapter 170) specifically states “animal” (動物) means any form of animal life other than fish and marine invertebrates.  “Protection of endangered species of wild animals and plants ordinance” (Chapter 586) controls commercial trading of endangered species, it does not constitute protection.
3. No recovery plans in place for endangered species or habitats.  Legislative analysis commissioned by Living Seas in 2009, highlights opportunities and need for introduction of
   1. Protection and recovery plans and legislation
   2. Expansion of marine parks.
   3. Mandated stakeholder collaboration.
4. Artificially keeping alive a fishing industry but actually dooming it to a certain death. Studies have shown that the fishing industry and Hong Kong’s marine life can be vibrant if allowed to recover and if properly managed.
5. After commissioning a Consultancy Study in 1998 into the fisheries industry in Hong Kong, six measures were recommended as a priority to be implemented first, this has only been partly implemented or has not been properly implemented. Of the six measures the following have yet to be implemented:a. establishing a fishing licence programme;
   b. limiting entrants;
   c. setting up nursery and spawning ground protection areas;

All of these measures will have a dramatic effect on the health of the marine environment.

 

Poorly implemented policies

1. Fisheries Protection Ordinance

 

b. Gill Netting, the practise of uses narrow mesh nets for fishing is highly destructive.  These nets are very cheap and made of thin filament and are very often snagged onto reefs and abandoned. Known as Ghost nets because the abandoned nets continue to kill for months if not years afterwards.

Charles Frew, Asiatic Marine Limited

2. Habitat enhancement and habitat restoration.

A majority of the submissions to the Consultancy study were in favour of an Artificial Reef (AR) program as long as the AR’s were sufficiently protected, unfortunately though the AFCD has successfully implemented 39,900 m2 of artificial reefs with an overall budget on $100M there was no effective protection of these AR’s put into place and this has had appears to have little effect on overall fish and marine life populations. Without legislation and protection the AR’s have attracted fish into Marine Parks and other areas but have also become useful targets for the fishermen.

 

Location of artificial reefs in Hong Kong

3. Fish restocking.

The commissioned Fisheries industry Consultancy Study from 1998 also made the following recommendations that restocking should be carried out to enable recover of populations. Unfortunately not been fully implemented or have not been successful. Some details as follows:

The AFCD has conducted four fish restocking trials

• Thursday, June 10, 2004. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) released 15,000 green grouper fish fingerlings and 1,000 high-finned grouper fingerlings of 4 inches, they were released on artificial reefs at marine parks and north eastern waters.
• Friday, June 6, 2003. About one million red tail prawn fry were released in Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park.
• October 15-24, 2001 Some 30,000 fish fingerlings were released by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) in Yan Chau Tong and Hoi Ha Wan Marine Parks.

 

The trials have concluded that restocking of fish fingerlings should be conducted in waters protected from fishing activities and with suitable fisheries management measures in place.  The government has yet to enact any legislation to enable this.

 

Fishing functional constituency

 

The fishing industry in Hong Kong has a long history and indeed many of the original people that settled in Hong Kong were fishermen, but at the moment the fishermen have an excessive influence.

 

When the basic Law was finalised, the setup of Legco included functional consistuencies for the major industries and businesses in Hong Kong, including amongst others, the legal, real estate and tourism sectors, all still important sectors in the Hong Kong economy.  All functional constituencies have seats in legco and therefore have influence on policy and legislation.

 

Unfortunately what was also allowed at that time was a Functional constituency for the agriculture and fishing industries.  The members of this functional constituency are as follows:

 

 

1. The Federation of Vegetable Marketing Co-operative Societies Limited;
2. The Federation of Pig Raising Co-operative Societies of Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories, Limited;
3. The Joint Association of Hong Kong Fishermen;
4. Federation of Hong Kong Aquaculture Associations;
5. The Federation of Fishermen’s Co-operative Societies of Shau Kei Wan District, Limited;
6. The Federation of Fishermen’s Co-operative Societies of Tai Po District, N.T., Limited;
7. The Federation of Fishermen’s Co-operative Societies of Sai Kung District, Limited;
8. The Federation of Fishermen’s Co-operative Societies of Southern District, Limited; and

 

 

In the modern Hong Kong economy these are not drivers of GDP growth or employment, and as such they enact an influence on policy that is out of proportion to their importance to the economy and welfare of the Hong Kong population.  Unfortunately from a marine conservation point of view the influence is often negative, the elected Agriculture and Fishing Consitutency member will lobby on behalf of the members that have voted him/her into Legco.

 

Two potential approaches to overcoming this extremely harmful situation

 

1. Lobby the government to remove the Agriculture and Fisheries Functional constitutency.
2. Work to convince the representative and the fishing community that actually marine conservation activities and a sustainably managed fishing industry is the ONLY way to ensure the future of the industry.

 

 

Living Seas Hong Kong is working towards collaborating with all stakeholders, including the fishing community to seek win-win solutions to the marine conservation issues.