Oil prices paralyse Hong Kong fisheries
Fishermen pull their boats out of the water or sell them.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews/SCMP) Soaring oil prices are threatening Hong Kong fishing industry. At US$ 53 per barrel, the price of oil is forcing many fishermen to hang up their nets and stay on dry land. Some of them have given up fishing altogether and sold their boats.
"We don't go out to sea as often now; every trip is a huge loss," said 57-year-old Chan Hoi-yip. "We don't even talk about making money." Like many others Mr Chan has been a fisherman since he was a boy but has never seen times as bad as they are now.
Rising oil prices 79 per cent more compared to 2003 have led to unbearable operating costs. Add to that low fish prices and competition from Mainland China and the picture becomes clear.
In six months diesel fuel costs have gone from US$ 40 to 70 a barrel.
According to To Kwong-biu, vice chairman of the Hong Kong Fishery Alliance, this crisis started before oil price hike. "The territory has seen its fishing fleet dwindle from about 6,000 in 1997 to 2,000 today," To said.
Some months ago, fishermen unsuccessfully lobbied the government for subsidies. All the authorities did was to allow fishermen to delay repayment of government loans.
The crisis is even worse if one considers the daunting task many fishermen have to face should they try finding different work. "I'm not very well educated," 54-year-old Lai Lai Kau-zai said. "If I go ashore, there won't be anything for me to do." Mr Lai stopped fishing more than a month ago because he couldn't make ends meet; his small boat was consuming US$ 64 worth of fuel every day.
Fishing was once the mainstay of Hong Kong's economy. Some 2,000 fishing boats and crafts berthed in the former British colony still engage in this activity so deeply rooted in local traditions and history.
.png)
10/01/2007
