>Press Releases Home > Publications and press releases > Press Releases Marine Department in action for a clean harbour The Marine Department has planned a series of activities to enhance enforcement action against marine littering and the cleaning-up work in the harbour. The department's General Manager (Services) Mr Adam Lai Yue-wah today (December 26) said that the activities, in addition to the scheduled daily work of collecting and scavenging floating refuse in the harbour, were planned to tie in with the territory-wide "Clean Hong Kong" programme which was launched by the Chief Executive on December 17. "Firstly, enforcement action against marine littering in identified black spots will be stepped up during Sundays and public holidays," the spokesman said. Secondly, on floating refuse, he said that special operations would be launched in identified major marine refuse black spots including typhoon shelters and waters off ungazetted beaches during the Chinese New Year, closed-fishing and summer vacation periods next year. The department would also organise joint operations with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department to clear the refuse at awash areas of ungazetted beaches during the summer vacation, he added. Marine Department scavenges and collects refuse through a combined fleet of government and contractors' vessels. In an effort to improve the service and extend it to remote waters, the fleet has been expanded from 30 vessels in 1995 to 66 vessels by the end of 2000. The yearly total of floating refuse collected has more than doubled from 4,765 tonnes to over 10,000 tonnes during the period. "To further improve the efficiency of the scavenging fleet by reducing the travelling time of the cleaning vessels, the department is looking for additional marine refuse collection points in remote areas such as Sai Kung and Tai Po to provide more landing points for handling marine refuse," Mr Lai said. "A new marine refuse collection point in West Kowloon is being developed and will come into operation in 2001," he added. But Mr Lai stressed that the success to keep our harbour clean relied very much on the support of the community. "Members of the public are welcome to call the Marine Department hotline 2815 0100 to report locations of floating refuse so that our staff can be deployed to clean up shiftly and, more important, they should cooperate by not littering in the harbour," he said. Echoing the "Clean Hong Kong" slogan -- "Littering ... What a shame!", he urged members of the public to join hand with the Marine Department in the fight against Lap Sap Chung and in maintaining our harbour clean and pleasant. Tuesday, December 26, 2000
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