ENG-2019 — Page 216

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Food Safety, Environmental Hygiene, Agriculture and Fisheries

Some 6,390 vessels were licensed as Class III vessels, meaning fishing vessels, under the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) (Certification and Licensing) Regulation. These included larger vessels operating mainly in the South China Sea and smaller vessels in local waters. About 10,100 local fishermen worked on these vessels, which had a quota of 4,250 Mainland deckhands. The total catch weighed about 122,900 tonnes, with an estimated wholesale value of $2.8 billion, and provided some 35,000 tonnes of fish for local consumption.

As at the year end, 923 AFCD-licensed mariculturists were operating in 26 designated fish culture zones. They supplied consumers with some 890 tonnes of live marine fish valued at $72 million during the year.

Freshwater and brackish water fish are reared in fish ponds located mainly in the north-western New Territories. In 2019, pond fish culture yielded some 2,280 tonnes of fish, making up 4 per cent of local freshwater fish consumption.

The Fisheries Protection Ordinance requires all local fishing vessels operating in Hong Kong waters to register with the department, so as to control the number of fishing vessels and maintain an appropriate level of fishing in local waters.

The department combats illegal fishing practices, including trawling, to ensure sustainable development of the industry and to conserve fisheries resources in Hong Kong waters. Six cases of illegal fishing were convicted in 2019.

At the same time, the department helps the industry cope with challenges, including providing credit facilities to fishermen, owners of fish-collecting vessels and fish farmers for sustainable development and general productive purposes. It offers free training courses to fishermen during the annual fishing moratorium and Chinese New Year. A $500 million Sustainable Fisheries Development Fund, set up in 2014, helps fishermen adopt sustainable and high value- added methods of operation, and subsidises programmes and research to enhance the industry's competitiveness. By end-2019, nine applications on promoting aquacultural development, two on fisheries-related eco-tourism projects, two on facilitating the development of capture fishery and eight on supporting the improvement of fisheries equipment had been approved, involving a total commitment of about $114 million.

To promote sustainable development of the aquacultural industry, the department conducts studies and provides technical support to fish farmers. It visits fish farms to promote good aquacultural practices, to provide support on fish health management including on-site health checks and disease diagnosis, and to promote prudent and responsible use of antimicrobials. The voluntary Accredited Fish Farm Scheme tags the accredited fish of 122 participating farms for easy recognition. More than 67,000kg of accredited fish were sold under the scheme in 2019.

Specially designed artificial reefs known as biofilters improve water quality and seabed conditions at fish culture zones in Yim Tin Tsai (East), Kau Sai, Sham Wan and Lo Tik Wan.

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