Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ19: Leisure angling activities
Following is a question by the Hon Kam Nai-wai and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today
(March 3):
Question:
In recent years, quite a number of members of the public have engaged in angling
at the waterfronts of the Victoria Harbour. In this connection, will the
Government inform this Council:
(a) whether there is legislation in place to regulate the angling activities at
the waterfronts of the Victoria Harbour; if so, of the details;
(b) whether it knows the number of people engaged in angling at the waterfronts
of the Victoria Harbour in the past three years;
(c) whether it knows if the catches of angling by members of the public at the
waterfronts of the Victoria Harbour are suitable for consumption, and whether it
has assessed if the catches of angling at these waterfronts will be suitable for
consumption upon completion of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme Stage 2A in
around 2014; and
(d) given that a number of waterfront promenades along the Victoria Harbour will
be open for use in the next few years, whether the Government has considered
making these promenades available for the angling activities of members of the
public?
Reply:
President,
(a) Currently, leisure angling activities could be carried out in most waters in
Hong Kong. Angling activities are only regulated in special zones of
ecologically sensitive waters, including marine reserves, marine parks, marine
fish culture zones and reservoirs to ensure the fisheries resources and marine
ecosystem in these waters are protected. As angling activities at the
waterfronts of the Victoria Harbour will not impose too much pressure on the
fisheries resources, and they will not damage the seabed under normal
circumstances, the Administration does not plan to regulate leisure angling
activities at the waterfronts of the Victoria Harbour.
(b) The Administration does not have statistics on the number of people engaged
in angling at the waterfronts of the Victoria Harbour in the past three years.
(c) Under the food surveillance programme of the Centre for Food Safety, samples
of food items (including capture marine products) are taken at different sales
levels in the market for testing, and no data is available on the catches of
angling by members of the public at the waterfronts of the Victoria Harbour.
According to the Environmental Protection Department, the water quality of the
Victoria Harbour has improved considerably since the completion of Stage 1 of
the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS) in 2001. The commissioning of HATS
Stage 2A is anticipated to bring further improvement to the harbour water
quality by further increasing the overall levels of dissolved oxygen in the
waters around the Victoria Harbour by 5%, and further reducing the overall
levels of major pollutants such as inorganic nitrogen, ammonia, phosphorus and
E. coli by about 5%, 10%, 8% and 90% respectively. Nevertheless, given the dense
population on both sides of the Victoria Harbour, the water quality near the
waterfronts may continue to be affected by surface run-offs and other
contamination from urban areas from time to time. From the food safety angle,
the Administration does not encourage members of the public to consume fish
angled at the waterfronts of the Victoria Harbour.
(d) A number of waterfront promenades along the Victoria Harbour will be open
for use in the next few years, and the Administration will consider making them
available for angling by members of the public.
Ends/Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Issued at HKT 12:40
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