ENG-1967 — Page 116

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PRIMARY PRODUCTION

reservoirs, the Hong Kong Island reservoirs, Shek Pik reservoir on Lantau Island and the Shap Long peninsula. These areas total 47 square miles of which 19 square miles have been planted to date. The principal species planted in the past has been Pinus massoniana, but in recent years more use has been made of the American slash pine, Pinus elliottii. Of the hardwood species, Tristania conferta, Acacia confusa and Casuarina stricta are the most successful.

Planting usually starts in spring and continues until June or July. Trees planted after July usually have too short a period to become well established before the onset of the dry season. The 1967 plant- ing programme was started in April and the bulk was complete by the end of July. The operation involved 425,000 trees, mostly in plantations destroyed by fire in the past few years.

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To combat the threat of hill fires during the dry winter months, forestry fire 'crews are mounted at 13 protection posts in the New Territories and islands. These are connected by field telephone to lookout posts on the hill tops where in times of hazard a constant watch is kept for the outbreak of any fires. Crews work as units in accessible localities in the plantations during the day and standby overnight at the protection posts. All crews are now equipped with portable high pressure fire pumps and vehicles. The luxuriant undergrowth arising from the early rains and the equable climate of the previous year presented a high fuel danger and when fires occurred on windy days they proved impossible to stop except at natural or man-made barriers. Losses from fire during the 1966-7 winter fire season proved to be the most serious on record with over a million trees destroyed or damaged in government planta- tions alone. Hill fires are normally rare during the mid-summer months. This year, however, there were a number of outbreaks even in July.

FISHING

Marine fish is one of Hong Kong's main primary products and the fishing fleet is the largest of any port in the Commonwealth. The number of fishermen in February 1967 was estimated at some 56,000. The government's aim is to foster the development of the fishing industry, to increase supplies of fish and to improve the economic status of those engaged in the industry. The Fisheries