Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ8: Trawl ban
Following is a question by the Hon Steven Ho and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today
(January 28):
Question:
The legislation which bans trawling activities (trawl ban) came into operation
on December 31, 2012, and the Fishermen Claims Appeal Board (FCAB) was also set
up in November of the same year to handle appeals lodged by fishermen concerning
ex-gratia allowances and one-off grants related to the trawl ban. However, some
fishermen have recently pointed out that FCAB has procrastinated the processing
of appeal cases, resulting in more than 800 outstanding cases at present.
Regarding the processing of appeal cases by FCAB, will the Government inform
this Council:
(1) why there are still many outstanding appeal cases awaiting processing;
(2) of the criteria adopted by the authorities for determining the order of
priority for processing appeal cases; and
(3) of the time, as estimated by the authorities, still needed to complete the
processing of all the appeal cases?
Reply:
President:
The legislation which bans trawling in Hong Kong waters came into operation on
December 31, 2012. Under the one-off assistance package approved by the
Legislative Council Finance Committee on June 10, 2011, an ex-gratia allowance
(EGA) is payable to eligible trawler owners affected by the trawl ban.
An Inter-departmental Working Group (IWG) was set up by the Government to handle
matters relating to applications received from parties affected by the trawl
ban. Applicants who are not satisfied with the decisions of the IWG may lodge
appeals to the Fishermen Claims Appeal Board (FCAB).
EGA amounting to $941.3 million had been paid out from the sum approved by the
Finance Committee. For owners of larger trawlers, a lump sum EGA of $150,000 had
been disbursed to each eligible applicant. For owners of inshore trawlers, the
amount of EGA payable to individual applicants depended on the number of
successful applications and the apportionment criteria (e.g. vessel type, length
of eligible inshore trawlers, the capacity of the engine(s), equipment on board,
the percentage of time spent on trawling and/or production in Hong Kong waters).
Around 30% of the total amount of EGA, together with the contingency amount,
have been reserved to cover successful appeal cases as may be determined by the
FCAB.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) The FCAB has received 858 appeal applications. Each appeal case is based on
its own account of complex and technical information. Having meticulously
reviewed such information, the FCAB might need to follow up as necessary. To
ensure that the appeal cases are processed in a just and fair manner, the FCAB
will conduct hearing for each individual appeal. Before handing down the
decisions, the FCAB would need to digest the statements submitted by the
appellants and the IWG, carefully consider the justifications and allow a
reasonable period of time for both parties to respond to each other's
submissions. In view of the large number of appeals lodged and the enormous
amount of information involved, it would take time for the FCAB to complete the
processing task.
To ensure that the appeal process is completed within a reasonable timeframe,
the Government had hitherto expanded the FCAB to a pool of five Chairmen and 20
Members, and appointed three additional legal advisers in mid-2014. With the
introduction of roster mechanism, the Chairmen and Members have been assigned to
sit in relevant hearing sessions with the number as well as frequency of
hearings increased such that the hearing process could be expedited. To ensure
that the appeal cases are processed in a just, fair, smooth, economical and
expeditious manner, we would need to make sure that there is a good measure of
consistency among Chairmen and Members in their work. In the first stage and the
second stage, the FCAB will conduct hearings on 32 cases and the remaining cases
respectively. The FCAB has conducted hearings for nine cases in the first stage,
and has promptly scheduled to process the remaining 20 or so cases under the
first stage as well as the remaining 800 or so cases under the second stage.
After completing action on the appeal cases under the first stage, we expect
that the processing of appeal cases under the second stage would take less time.
(2) The 32 cases under the first stage are extracted from a cross-section of the
appeal cases based on vessel type (i.e. stern trawlers, pair trawlers, hand
trawlers and shrimp trawlers) and classification (i.e. inshore trawlers (upper
tier), inshore trawlers (lower tier), larger trawlers which generally do not
operate in Hong Kong waters, and ineligible trawlers) with a view to covering
all the parameters and criteria that had been taken into consideration in the
IWG's assessments. During the second stage, the FCAB will hear the remaining
appeal cases in a sequence that accords with the date on which the appeal was
lodged.
Ends/Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:09
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