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The local fishermen belong essentially to the floating population, a special class of people known as 'tan ka' or 'boat family'. Their calling and trade is a specialised one and they are entirely unsuited to other occupations. Their junks are their only stock in trade. To these they have confined their entire life for generations, regarding them not only as their sole means of support but also as their only home. The fact that there are some 100,000 persons living in 5,500 boats, the largest of which does not exceed 85 feet in length, and the majority of which are less than 60 feet long shows the extent of the overcrowding to which their traditional occupation subjects them. A boat of 70 feet in length provides space for the accommodation of 40 to 45 persons of all ages, besides space for fish, salt, gear, food and miscellaneous cargo. The average earning capacity of a single able-bodied fisherman is $70 per annum. This general low standard of living combined with the hidebound allegiance to a centuries-old tradition has prevented the infiltration of modern methods and the adoption of modern appliances. The Japanese were quick to realise the advantage to be gained from power-driven vessels and the substitution of machinery for man-power. Sometime before 1927 a Japanese fishing company was organized in Hong Kong for work in the South China seas with the presumed object of controlling the entire industry in the Colony and in South China. Steam trawlers and improved fishing methods brought the company increasing profits up to 1937 when the business was suspended owing to the Sino-Japanese hostilities.
Trawling, seining, grill netting and lining are the principal methods of fishing in use in the Colony. Groupers, sea-breams, golden-threads, flat fishes, rags, white herring, mackerel, crabs, halibut, sole, crayfish and mullet are found in great quantities off the Pearl River delta. In Deep Bay off the New Territories, oysters are cultivated in an area of approximately 20 square miles. The annual produce of this area is about $200,000.
A survey of the fisheries of Hong Kong was begun in 1938 by Mr. S. Y. Lin of the University of Hong Kong.
Agriculture.
It is estimated that 50,187 acres, or 20% of the total acreage of the Colony, are now under cultivation. The great proportion of cultivated land lies in the New Territories, north of the Kowloon hills. The land is held on permit or Crown lease by about 25,000 small farmers or family associations. There is little fertile land which is not being worked in some manner, and if the area of land under cultivation is to be increased considerable capital for fertilization and general development will be necessary. For the present the efforts of agriculturalists are concentrated on improving the quality of the yield rather than on the extension of cultivation. It is probable that the New Territories could never produce sufficient rice for the Colony's requirements, but it is felt that, with the use of modern methods and improved stocks, self-sufficiency could be attained in respect of many other agricultural products such as European vegetables, dairy produce, pineapples and other fruit.
Of the total acreage in crop 70% is planted with rice, 15% with sweet potatoes, 6% with ground-nuts, 6% with sugar-cane, 3% with orchards and 1% with pineapple. At present roughly $140 millions of food-stuffs are imported into the Colony annually. A small quantity of New Territories rice, sugar and ground-nuts is exported, but market and dairy produce, meat and fruit are all consumed locally.
In contrast to the village farmers are the various forms which modern agricultural enterprise is taking in the New Territories. There are several well-equipped poultry farms, fruit orchards and market gardens with sufficient backing of capital to put into practice the theories of tillage, fertilization and improvement of stock and seeds which have been evolved in various agricultural countries. Although many of these farms are now well past the experimental stage they are to a great extent isolated enterprises lacking the effective coöperation necessary for the improvement of agriculture generally. Attempts are, however, being made, notably by the New Territories Agricultural Association and by the Kernel Seed Company of America not