WWF has welcomed Hong Kong’s Legislative Council’s decision to ban all trawling in its local waters, a move that is largely being seen as a crucial first step in reviving the Administrative Region’s depleted marine environment. The council has introduced new policy which includes a HK$1.72 billion (US$219 million) buyout scheme that provides ex-gratia payments for affected inshore trawler owners and other larger vessels.
The Legislative Council decision follows the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s (HKSAR) announcement in Oct 2010 of a proposed ban on all bottom and mid-water trawling activities including fishing using pair, stern, shrimp and hang trawlers in its waters.A study conducted by Canada’s University of British Columbia for WWF Hong Kong finds that 5 years after the implementation of the trawling ban could increase the populations of squid and cuttlefish will increase by 35 percent, while the number of reef fish will grow by 20 percent.
Dr. Andy Cornish, WWF Hong Kong’s Director of Conservation, has welcomed the decision of trawl ban saying that it could help valuable fish stocks recover. WWF also cautions that more still needs to be done to ensure that Hong Kong’s marine environment has a healthy future. He added that a commercial ban along with sufficient regulatory and financial support to aid affected fishermen over the long term needs to be considered for Hong Kong’s marine environment fully recover.
WWF Hong Kong has been campaigning for a ban on trawling since 2005 by promoting its significance to the recovery of ocean habitats and fish populations. Only a handful of nations have imposed trawling bans to date. In the South China Sea, the Chinese government prohibits trawling all year round in water less than 40 meters and extends this with a May – August moratorium on all trawling, purse-seining and stake-netting activities.
