Housing and transport seen as key issues in testing battle for power

THE fishing community in Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau is fighting for a say in the Southern District Board by backing four candidates in the forthcoming elections.

Vivian Chih Wan-wan is contesting Ap Lei Chau Estate, Fanny Lui Sze-mei is running for Ap Lei Chau North while Chan Sze-chung and Shek Kwok-keung are vying for Heung Yue.

A fishing community for decades, the Southern District has now developed into a diverse locality, known for seafood restaurants and its worsening traffic congestion.

Activists in the district said the estimated 5,000-strong fishing community had been indifferent to district board politics in recent years.

None of the present board members has a fishing-industry background.

Keung Yin-man, chairman of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Floating Fishermen's Welfare Promotion Association, criticised the current Southern District Board for neglecting the well-being of local fishermen by paying all of its attention to public housing estates.

The prominent fishermen's organisation, with a membership of about 1,000 in the Southern District alone, urged that an independent constituency be allocated to the fishing community whose concerns might be overlooked by the board.