The head of a Chinese tuna-fishing firm is calling for more fisheries collaboration between Hong Kong and China, explaining that possible synergies between the two are not being taken advantage of.
Henry Tan, the CEO of Luen Thai Holdings, which oversees Chinese fishing companies Liancheng Overseas Fishery, China Southern Fishery Shenzhen Co., and Liancheng Overseas Fishery Co., spoke at the recent annual meeting of China’s parliament in Beijing, calling for Hong Kong vessels to be allowed to join the mainland Chinese fleet while simultaneously utilizing Hong Kong’s financial strength to boost China’s fisheries industry.
He also called for the development of offshore fishing for Hong Kong and Macao and to allow Hong Kong and Macao companies to participate in China’s distant-water fisheries, “support Hong Kong's innovative transformation of fisheries, and cooperate with national policies to develop distant-water fisheries in the Central and Western Pacific.”
“Hong Kong fishermen are also very interested in using Hong Kong's trawlers to operate in Indonesia, hoping to contribute to China's modernization,” Tan said.
Even though part of China, Hong Kong operates as a separate entity in several industries, including fishing. Hong Kong fishing vessels are limited in the areas in which they can legally fish, mainly sequestered to waters just off of the city and in the contested South China Sea.
Financial backing from Hong Kong could provide a boon to China’s distant-water fleet, which has suffered from high cost and operational pressures.
The pressures have mounted enough that the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has recommended a wide-ranging support package to bolster the ailing sector.
Among several recommendations in the proposed package, the ministry encourages both national and provincial governments to replace decrepit vessels in the fleet with updated boats; support universities and research institutes to carry out monitoring of distant-water fishery resources; more effectively allocate quotas for tuna, saury, mackerel, and more species; and allow for internal quota transfers within the same enterprise.
