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Primary Production
In the production of fresh food such as vegetables, pigs, poultry and fish, Hong Kong meets a significant proportion of the community's requirements even though less than three per cent of the working population is involved in farming and fishing.
Farmers in the New Territories produce more than 40 per cent of the vegetables con- sumed, about 65 per cent of the total live chicken requirements and about 15 per cent of all pigs slaughtered. Hong Kong's fishing fleet catches about 90 per cent of all fresh marine fish eaten in the territory, and local pond fish farmers produce some 16 per cent of the freshwater fish consumed.
The 1976 by-census showed that farmers comprised only 1.36 per cent of the economically-active population, while fisherfolk made up another 1.19 per cent.
A series of pelagic or mid-water fishery surveys, begun in 1976 to investigate the resources of the South China Sea within the range of the Hong Kong fleet, continued during 1978. This project follows earlier surveys and studies which suggest that the traditional demersal or sea bottom fishing grounds have reached the point of maximum sustainable economic yield, and that any increase in supply will have to be from the exploitation of other resources.
The aim of the surveys is to establish the temporal and geographic distribution of unexploited pelagic fish stocks in the northern South China Sea to help determine what should be done to maintain an adequate supply of fish. By showing which are the most abundant species, the surveys are also helping to determine the most ap- propriate gear for exploitation.
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The surveys are being carried out by the Agriculture and Fisheries Department's research vessel Cape St Mary, on which a range of sophisticated acoustic equipment - some of it on permanent loan from the South China Sea Fisheries Development and Co-ordinating Programme - has been installed to locate shoals of fish.
The 27-year-old Cape St Mary will be replaced in mid-1979 by a 32-metre com- bination seiner/trawler being built at a local shipyard at a cost of more than $10 million. This 867-tonne research vessel will have a cruising range of 8,000 nautical miles and be able to stay at sea for up to one month. It will be manned by a crew of 17 and five scientists, and is to be equipped with two laboratories.
Administration and Services
The Agriculture and Fisheries Department provides a development information service to the primary industries. Details of new projects put forward are carefully