ENG-1990 — Page 150

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

Marine fish culture has developed considerably in the past decade. Young fish captured from their natural environment as well as imported fish fingerings are reared in cages suspended from rafts in sheltered bays throughout Hong Kong, particularly in the eastern New Territories. Common cultured species are grouper, seabream and snapper. Under the Marine Fish Culture Ordinance, all marine fish culture operations are required to be conducted within designated fish culture zones under licences issued by the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries. The degazetting of the fish culture zone in Tai A Chau, because of the building of a detention centre for Vietnamese boat people, decreases the number of designated zones to 27. By year-end, 1 739 licences were issued. Live marine fish supplied by this activity amounted to 3 321 tonnes valued at $189 million.

Agriculture and Fisheries Department

The Agriculture and Fisheries Department encourages the productive use of agricultural land in the rural areas. Among major on-going programmes are the agricultural land rehabilitation scheme and projects for irrigation maintenance and development. Further- more, new concepts, techniques and material input to the farming and fishing industries are evaluated and actively promoted. Controls are exercised to prevent the introduction and spread of plant and livestock pests and diseases.

Investigatory programmes of the department cover crops, pest control, animal health and husbandry, and fisheries. Experiments are conducted to improve the quality and yield of vegetables, flowers and fruit.

The department advises farmers on disease prevention and control, and on modern methods of animal production. It also supplies good quality seeds and breeding stocks of pigs and poultry.

A wide spectrum of studies on marine resources, aquaculture and the environmental impact of development activities on fisheries is conducted with a view to developing and promoting the local fishery industry. In marine resources, emphasis is placed on optimising production from currently-exploited fisheries resources and exploring the development potential of under-exploited or hitherto unexploited new resources. In this context, the department is actively studying the use of a new trapping technique to exploit the prawns found in waters south of Hong Kong at depths, between 500 to 1000 metres and the marketing of this deep-sea product.

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Aquaculture studies are directed towards the development of more efficient culture systems and improved husbandry techniques to increase productivity of the marine and pond fish culture sectors. A hardy, fast-growing pond fish, Colossoma brachypomum, was introduced to the industry as the result of studies carried out at the Au Tau pond fish station. In addition, efforts are channelled into testing the feasibility of deep-sea cage culture with a view to removing the restriction of marine fish culture industry to the very sheltered coastal waters. Hydrographic investigations are designed to supply en- vironmental information for an assortment of biological programmes to facilitate proper management of the fish culture zones. Studies of the marine environment are conducted to assess the impact of pollution, including red tides, on fisheries, particularly mariculture, in order to prevent pollution and minimise production loss.

Low-interest loans are administered by the department to help farmers and fishermen to finance their operational or long-term investment requirements. The department also organises and finances vocational and technical training for those directly and indirectly

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