Thursday, late afternoon.
The harbour of a little island in the South China Sea is very full. Why so?
Locally-based fishing vessels have returned to port as there is now a two-month ban on fishing.
Some of the local boats will never sail again. A law comes into force at the end of the year banning all trawl fishing in Hong Kong waters. Trawl fishing is when a boat drags a net though the water. So far, so good. But when fishing in shallow waters, the net scrapes along the seabed. That's really destructive. The result is carnage.
It is to be noted that the mainland Chinese government already prohibits trawling all year round in its territorial waters of less than 40 metres (132 feet) and extends this ban with a May to August moratorium on all trawling, purse-seining and stake-netting activities.
Hereabouts, Hong Kong Government has put in place a number of measures to compensate soon-to-be ex-trawler owners and crews. And thanks to its buy-back scheme, the local authorities plan to sink some of the newly acquired trawlers to create artificial reefs.
Beach Boys: Sail on Sailor
2 comments:
I'm sorry that it has had to come to this -- and really would love it if the fishing industry AND the fish population in Hong Kong can eventually recover to healthy levels. (Alas, however, I'm not all that hopeful that this will be the case for one of them, never mind both...)
I too share your hopes but think they are insufficient given that the human species seems hell bent on ecocide.
As that great sage Kurt Vonnegut was wont to say: So it goes.
Post a Comment