To combat illegal fishing activities and to conserve the marine resources within Hong Kong waters, including marine parks, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), the Hong Kong Police Force and the Guangdong Provincial Marine and Fisheries Inspection Bureau have conducted a joint operation.
An AFCD spokesman said that officers from the Marine Police and the AFCD took enforcement actions within Hong Kong waters while the Guangdong Provincial Marine and Fisheries Inspection Bureau took parallel enforcement actions in Mainland waters.
To facilitate the operation, the Marine Police and the AFCD deployed 25 police launches and 11 vessels respectively while the Guangdong Provincial Marine and Fisheries Inspection Bureau deployed 16 vessels and speedboats. During the operation, officers from the Marine Police and the AFCD inspected 87 fishing vessels, among which one Mainland vessel was banned from entering Hong Kong waters. Three men and one woman from the Mainland, aged between 16 and 55, were arrested for suspected illegal immigration. The Guangdong Provincial Marine and Fisheries Inspection Bureau also inspected 132 fishing vessels in Mainland waters and 49 of the vessels were found to have violated the Mainland regulations.
The spokesman said that joint operations help combat illegal fishing activities and conserve marine resources, and said that similar joint operations would continue to be carried out from time to time in the future.
The departments concerned will strengthen the enforcement of the relevant legislation to prevent the unauthorised entry of fishing vessels from outside the territory for illegal fishing.
At present, there are a number of legislations governing the fishing activities of non-Hong Kong residents or non-Hong Kong vessels in Hong Kong waters. The main ones include the Immigration Ordinance (Cap 115), the Fisheries Protection Ordinance (Cap 171), the Shipping and Port Control Regulations (Cap 313A), the Marine Parks and Marine Reserves Regulation (Cap 476A) and the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) (General) Regulation (Cap 548F).
