Q Should the AFCD be split to end a conflict of interest?
Yes, the AFCD (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department) should be split to end the conflict of interest between the development of now depleted fisheries and the conservation of the marine environment. A conflict of this magnitude in a business environment would lead to legal action.
The last two lines of Simon Parry's article ('Misguided policies' blamed for depleted fish stocks, April 25) mentions the AFCD conducted 'fish restocking through a fish fry releasing trial'. Almost every evening I stroll along Sai Kung Town Pier. On looking over the side I see hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of fish fry. Are these the fry introduced by the AFCD?
I suspect not, in which case these fish have hatched naturally, but where did they come from? I rarely see any fish of significant size caught by recreational anglers in Sai Kung. Most of these 'sportsmen' are catching fish around 5cm or 6cm long.
The point is that the fish fry never seem to grow into anything large and I wonder, is this because recreational anglers are allowed to take juvenile fish that ought to be returned to the sea? Is it also perhaps because people are allowed to wade through the shallows at low tide using fine-meshed nets to capture as many living organisms as possible? Is it because people are allowed to fish with rods and nets in areas where fry have been released?
Parts of Hong Kong's coastline like the mangrove areas ought to be a paradise for responsible sports fishermen. As a keen fisherman myself, I have nothing against people enjoying the sport but here in Hong Kong there is no sense of responsibility, no environmental/ecological conscience and no commitment to sustainable recreational fishing, let alone commercial fishing. Fishing in Hong Kong's reservoirs requires a licence and so should fishing in coastal waters. The reservoir licence is laughably cheap at $24 for three years and should be increased. For both reservoirs and coastal waters, an annual licence fee of $500 is not unreasonable. For saltwater fishing, the fee should go towards a conservation fund. However, conservation of Hong Kong's coastal treasures needs to be managed by an organisation that is not also responsible for the management of its plunder.