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PRIMARY PRODUCTION
At the wholesale markets, fish is sorted and sold by public auction to licensed retailers. Fishermen may collect the proceeds from their sales directly after the sale or the organization may send the money back to the depot which serves their areas. A further service is the transportation of fish to the buyers' establish- ment in the urban areas. There were no significant changes during 1968 in the quantities of fresh and salt or dried marine fish marketed, and exporters seeking other outlets for salt and dried marine fish have met with little success in the face of increasing competition from other countries in the region.
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The provision of cheap credit is one of the most important services offered by the Fish Marketing Organization to local fishermen. The organization's revolving loan fund, established in 1946, has made loans totalling $27,300,526. Of this, some $23,788,000 had been repaid at the end of the year. The fund's ceiling was stabilized at $3.5 million in 1968. In 1957 the Co-operative for American Relief Everywhere donated $31,000 to form a revolving loan fund for shrimp fishermen, which was increased to $92,400 by a further donation in 1962. This fund is administered by the organization and loans totalling $516,662 have been made; repay- ments total $440,339.
A further important side to the organization's development programme is the provision of schooling facilities for the children of fishermen. Fourteen schools have been established and approxi- mately 4,000 fishermen's children were receiving education at these schools with a further 630 attending other schools (including secondary) on scholarships provided by the organization. All Fish Marketing Organization schools have advisory committees com- posed of leaders of the fishing communities served by the schools. In recognition of the importance of vocational training, a secondary practical school has been built at Aberdeen where fishermen's children are able to continue their general education beyond the primary level and at the same time receive instruction in vocational subjects geared to the requirements of a modern fishing industry. An adult education class is also conducted at Shau Kei Wan, one of the fishing centres on Hong Kong Island.
The organization may one day be run by the fishermen themselves as a co-operative enterprise, but the previous lack of education is