Ban on Hong Kong Trawlers

In what could be good news for divers, the SCMP is reporting that a consultation paper from the Food and Health Bureau’s Committee on Sustainable Fisheries is due to be released next week, which will suggest outlawing trawling in Hong Kong. This is an attempt to make the fishing industry more economically and ecologically sustainable. Proposals also include the Government buying out trawlers and offering retraining and financial help to fishermen who are affected.

According to the article, there are around 1200 trawlers in Hong Kong, of which 550 operate in Hong Kong waters. Hong Kong is one of the few places to allow trawling so far inshore and this is a particular problem because of the damage they do to the seabed and because they also catch immature fish which makes it very difficult to replenish fish stocks. Many of us who have dived in Hong Kong have seen the results of such trawling, where vast swathes of the seabed have been scoured clean of any marine life or features of interest.  To make matters worse Hong Kong waters are spawning and nursery grounds. So a ban should help support fish stocks and help the environment to recover. Good news for divers and also sports fishermen who have proliferated in Hong Kong over the past 10 years. These are the keen, dedicated people who are dropped off on barren rocks throughout Hong Kong every weekend, where they spend hours and hours avoiding the wife and kids!

So a ban would be in the interests of almost everyone except the fishermen who are affected. Obviously a scheme to help them will be necessary. The SCMP estimates that it would cost HKD 385 million to buy up the 550 trawlers that operate in Hong Kong waters. This does not include costs for retraining or compensation for loss of business.

Given the traditional power of the fishing lobby, I suspect it won’t happen in the short term, but it is good to see such a proposal, since a recent paper by the Committee on Sustainable Fisheries estimates that Hong Kong waters are overfished by 30 per cent.

The above cartoon is from Harry in SCMP, and if you are a subscriber, you can read the complete SCMP article.