ENG-1947 — Page 68

It has already been said more than one in this chapter that the year 1947 was a bad year for the fishing industry; whether the opinion of many fishermen that it was unprecedentedly bad is justified, it is hard to say. Certainly, two of the main fishing seasons, the purse seiner season and the "wong fa" season were very poor. Two abnormal circumstances seriously affected certain sections of the local fishing community. Piracy in the Mirs Bay area reached such a pitch at one time that many fishermen, even at the height of the season, preferred to "stay in harbour and starve rather than go out to sea and be killed or robbed". Strenuous efforts on the part of the Police caused an improvement in these conditions, and towards the end of the year the situation was under control. The other unfortunate circumstance was a very severe storm early in October in which were involved a large number of trawlers and long liners which were fishing to the east of the Colony. Unfortunately, a threatened typhoon prevented assistance from being sent to these vessels, five of which are known to have been sunk and 20 others seriously damaged. This occurrence revived con- sideration of a plan originally made before the Japanese war for the installation of wireless sets in selected fishing vessels in order that typhoon and storm warnings may reach them.

The following are the figures for the weights and values of fresh and salt fish sold in the Wholesale Markets at Taipo and Kennedy Town:

Fresh Fish

Piculs

1946 1947

32,000 44,418

3,120,457 211,558 3,355,512 189,273

Salt/Dried Fish Piculs

$

Piculs

18,476,432 243,558 11,166,577 233,691

Total

$

21,596,889 14,522,089

It will be observed that the total amount of fish handled in 1947 is not far short of that. handled in 1946 but this must be viewed in relation to the fact that during the winter of 1946/47 there was a large increase in fishing vessels using Hong Kong as a base, and therefore the catch per vessel is considerably less. Prices of fresh and salt fish in 1947 were lower than in 1946: fresh fish fetched on the average $75 a picul as compared with $97 and salt or dried fish $59 instead of $87.

Before the war the proportion of salt to fresh fish sold in the market was 3 to 2. After the war the remarkable propor- tion of 8 to 1 was achieved. There are two main reasons for this trend. In the first place, no Japanese trawlers are now bringing fresh fish into the Colony. Secondly, the number of long liners-these are the vessels that bring in most of the fresh fish to the Colony-is now only one third as great as before the war. A further feature limiting the landings of fresh fish is the lack of adequate cold storage facilities in the markets. Rather than take the chance of their fish spoiling if the fresh fish market is bad, many fishermen prefer to salt their catch. During 1947, the ratio of salt to fresh fish sold in the market was approximately 5 to 1. These figures for fresh fish are correct only in so far as they show the amount handled through the markets, whereas it is known that in 1947 a considerable

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