Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ16: Trawl ban assistance measures
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
(October 26):
Question:
On June 10 this year, the Finance Committee of this Council approved a one-off
commitment of $1,726.8 million to offer assistance to trawler vessel owners and
local deckhands affected by the trawl ban. The assistance package comprises
making ex-gratia allowance payments, buying out affected inshore trawler
vessels, providing assistance, and launching a special training programme. When
local deckhands apply for the one-off grant, they have to provide evidence
proving that he/she was employed to work as at October 13, 2010 on an affected
inshore trawler vessel. In this connection, will the Government inform this
Council whether:
(a) it has started processing applications for ex-gratia payment and the vessel
buy-out scheme submitted by inshore trawler vessel owners; if it has, of the
number of inshore trawler vessel owners who have so far submitted the required
particulars to the authorities to facilitate the processing of their
applications; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b) the authorities have made known to all members of the trade that they need
to keep the employment records of the affected local deckhands; if so, of the
details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The Chief Executive put forward in his Policy Address last year that in order to
protect our precious marine resources and ecology, trawling in Hong Kong waters
should be banned through legislation. The relevant subsidiary legislation was
passed on May 18 this year. A new commitment of $1,726.8 million was approved by
the Finance Committee (FC) on June 10, 2011 to provide a one-off assistance
package to eligible trawler owners, the local deckhands they employed and fish
collector owners, as well as to implement other related measures. These include:
(1) making ex-gratia payments to affected trawler owners for permanent loss of
fishing grounds arising from a statutory trawl ban;
(2) buying out affected inshore trawler vessels from trawler owners who
voluntarily surrender their vessels;
(3) providing one-off assistance to affected local deckhands employed by the
affected inshore trawler owners and affected fish collector owners; and
(4) implementing measures to support marine conservation and replenishment of
fisheries resources, and launching a special training programme for affected
trawler fishermen and local deckhands.
The relevant assistance measures will appropriately address the impact of the
trawl ban on the livelihood of those affected.
As explained in our paper for the Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene
on October 15, 2010, to be eligible for the one-off assistance to local
deckhands as mentioned in item (3) above, an applicant must be a local deckhand
and must, at the time of application, provide evidence proving that he/she has
already been employed to work as at October 13, 2010 on the affected inshore
trawler vessels. In the papers for the Panel on Food Safety and Environmental
Hygiene on March 8, 2011, for the Subcommittee on Fisheries Protection
(Specification of Apparatus) (Amendment) Notice 2011 on May 3, 2011, and for the
FC on June 10, 2011, we have provided further details on the eligibility
criteria and requirements of application, including the requirement that an
applicant should as far as practicable provide relevant documentary evidence
(e.g. Mandatory Provident Fund records, employment contracts, salary payment
records, etc.) to support his/her claim in his/her employment on the trawler
vessel.
My reply to the two parts of the question is as follows:
(a) Since the approval of funding by the FC on June 10, 2011, the Government has
been actively making preparation for introducing the initiatives set out in
items (1) to (4) above, including setting up an inter-departmental working group
(IWG) in August this year to deal with matters of the one-off assistance scheme
as mentioned in items (1) to (3) above. The IWG has commenced operation, and
will announce the detailed arrangements for application for ex-gratia allowance,
buying out of trawlers and one-off assistance for local deckhands employed by
the owners of affected inshore trawler vessels, and invite applications around
end 2011 as scheduled.
(b) Since the announcement of the plan to ban trawling in Hong Kong waters in
October 2010, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has been
maintaining close contact with the trade to brief and consult them on the
arrangements for implementing the relevant measures (including the one-off
assistance package to local deckhands employed by inshore trawler vessel
owners). The trade is generally aware of the eligibility criteria and related
requirements of application (e.g. the need to keep information relating to the
employment of local deckhands for supporting their applications). The IWG will
further explain to the trade the details of application requirements and
information to be provided, before inviting applications. When processing the
applications, the IWG will, taking into consideration the operation of the
trade, require the applicants to provide reasonable and acceptable evidence to
support their employment status.
Ends/Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Issued at HKT 12:40
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