146
BRIAN MORTON & P. S. WONG
2.0
WEIGHT OF OYSTER PRODUCED (METRIC TONS)
1500
1000
500
*
中
**
"+15
-1.0
55
-0.5
VALUE OF OYSTER PRODUCED (MILLIONS OF HK DOLLARS)
1954 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73
Figure 2. Annual production of oysters in Hong Kong from 1960 to 1973. (Data obtained from the Hong Kong Annual Departmental Report by the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries, 1953-54 to 1973-74.)
land receive less profit each year and eventually fail. The great reduction in the availability of man-power is probably the greatest factor, since the younger, educated and more urbanized generation prefer less labour-demanding employment. There is a shortage of manual labour especially during the busy season in Spring and early Summer. The political sensitivity of this border area is also a problem so that as the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries reported in 1951-52 “flotillas of up to twenty boats manned by about one hundred oyster pirates not being uncommon." A dispute in 1966-67 over oyster bed No. 5 reduced production figures considerably (Fig. 2).
Improvement may be possible by introducing new methods of culture. The bottom-laying method of culture is primitive and keeps the oyster industry in a more or less unmanaged state. In the United States, a comparison of public and private oyster grounds reveals striking differences in yield between management techniques practiced in each area (Bardach and Ryther, 1968). Investigations into new methods of cultivation have been made by the Agricultural and Fisheries Department of the Hong Kong Government.