It’s verging on criminal to allow a public asset as glorious as Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour to be used for little more than water traffic. Harbourside plans have been much talked about and an authority to oversee development has been proposed, but it could yet be years before any of its ideas come to fruition. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has pre-empted the decision-making by suggesting that there is no better place to go for a lunchtime swim or to fish. He’s not entirely wrong, though the thought that an hour is all that’s needed to get from the office to the lapping waves to take a dip or cast a line and grab a bite to eat before returning is nothing short of demented.

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The chief executive was actually expanding on a proposal put forward in his annual policy address in January for the creation of fishing zones in Central, Tai Po and Tsing Yi. Among the facilities provided would be shelters and chairs. It all seems sensible until it’s realised that this is another bureaucratic plot aimed at keeping our city orderly and manageable for civil servants; think of the hair-brained scheme that stripped our streets of vibrancy by pushing dai pai dong from footpaths to indoor markets. When dedicated angling areas have been deemed a success, bans will surely be implemented on throwing a line into the harbour whenever and wherever one likes.

Leung’s heart is nonetheless in the right place: those of us in hectic jobs in a busy city need to drag ourselves away from our desks more often than we do to exercise and relax. Swimming and fishing are perfect pastimes and what better place than the harbour to partake of them? The biggest drawback is that the right environment does not yet exist, either in terms of facilities or basics such as clean water, safety and good-sized fish. But if Leung is serious about making lives healthier and more tranquil, as his blog posting appeared to indicate, he should also mandate that swimming and fishing areas be accompanied by a two or three-hour afternoon siesta period, as is widely practised in Spain, the Middle East and Latin America.

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I’m not a fish eater and find catching fish for the sake of it and then throwing them back wasteful and cruel. The swimming idea has its merits, though. Several cities have beaches close to business districts: Berlin, London, Paris, Dubai and Brisbane among them. Berlin’s Badeschiff on the Spree River and Paris’ plages beside the River Seine are among those that are artificial, but offer much-needed places for relaxation in the summer. Downtown city beaches are about sunbathing, drinking and eating, people-watching, activities like canoeing and, if the water quality is right, swimming.