Promoting the sustainable development of Hong Kong's fisheries industry

Apart from financial services, real estate and tourism, there are other industries that contribute to Hong Kong's economy. Our economy must develop in a balanced manner if we are to encourage industries to expand and thrive, a goal that I mentioned in my Manifesto. To achieve this goal, the Government has to be appropriately proactive.

Hong Kong people love eating and are very particular about the freshness and taste of food. A fresh grey mullet steamed with lemon is a simple yet delicious dish. Some people may find pond-reared grey mullets unpalatable because of their muddy taste. Actually, by adopting good aquaculture practices, one can produce grey mullets with tender and sweet flesh.

Today, I visited a large outdoor fish farm in Yuen Long. It has a total area of over 550 000 square metres and more than 100 fish ponds, and rears mainly grey mullets, giant groupers and jade perches. The fish it produces are sold under its own brand name at authorised outlets.

The fish farm is operated by two brothers. Mr Yeung, the person-in-charge, has over 30 years of experience in fish farming. He has gone to Taiwan many times to visit local fish farms and attend aquaculture courses, and has been tireless in improving the aquaculture methods adopted by his farm. To ensure quality, he has designed for each fish species a set of aquaculture practices, from the selection of fish fry to the management of the farm and the choice of feed. As a result, his farm has been approved by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department as an Accredited Fish Farm.

According to Mr Yeung, grey mullets are usually reared in freshwater ponds, and the muddy taste is caused by the algae in the water. To avoid the muddy taste, the farm adds seawater to the ponds to adjust the salinity of water and suppress the growth of algae.

Besides visiting this outdoor fish farm, I also went to a high-tech indoor giant grouper farm at Lau Fau Shan last year. In collaboration with a local university, the fish farm has adopted an indoor recirculating aquaculture system to remove impurities from the tanks. While ensuring clean water supply, this system can save both energy and water through recycling.

The advantage of indoor aquaculture is stability in the quantity and quality of the fish produced. Production is unaffected by weather, seawater temperature and marine pollution, and similar fish farms can be set up anywhere. The fish farm has an annual production of 70 000 to 80 000 giant groupers, which are supplied to local hotels, fine-dining restaurants and supermarkets. As the giant groupers are as good as marine fish in texture and taste, they are well received by customers.

Both fish farms, outdoors or indoors, adopt modern aquaculture practices to provide Hong Kong people with fresh aquaculture products of a high quality. I always believe that there is much that our agriculture and fisheries industries can achieve provided they modernise their operations, move towards diversified and sustainable development and cater for the market demand for quality food products.

In last year's Policy Address, I announced the setting up of a $500 million Sustainable Fisheries Development Fund to enhance the overall competitiveness and sustainability of our fisheries industry. After extensive consultation with the industry, the Government has devised the Fund's scope of subsidy, as well as eligibility and assessment criteria. The Fund will be used to spearhead the modernisation of local aquaculture, to promote the certification of local fisheries products, and to help local fishermen develop sustainable fishing operations in Hong Kong waters, identify new fisheries resources and fishing grounds in the South China Sea and develop leisure fishing.

The Fund is ready now and will accept applications from early July. I hope that the fisheries sector will work with the Government to promote the sustainable development of our fisheries industry and to provide Hong Kong people with fresh, quality fisheries products.

Video

The Chief Executive exchanges views on modernised aquaculture with Mr Yeung, the person-in-charge, when visiting a large outdoor fish farm in Yuen Long today. The fish farm rears mainly grey mullets, giant groupers and jade perches.		Workers catch grey mullets in a pond.
The Chief Executive learns how to label fisheries products.		The Chief Executive visited a high-tech indoor giant grouper farm at Lau Fau Shan last year.

June 19, 2014