Tai O is famous for sea food and fishing culture. The shrimp paste
of smell can represent the culture with no doubt. According to the Hong Kong
Intangible Cultural Heritage Database, shrimp paste making was officially recognized
as a culture asset in June, 2014 when the government announced its first
intangible culture heritage list of 480 items. However today, like the
traditional identity of the inhabitants and the community, the shrimp paste
manufacturing industry is fading away.
On the other hands,the prohibition of bottom trawling in Hong Kong in 2012 has further worsened
the situation resulting in the relocation of production process into the
mainland China. Overfishing has long been a serious problem in Hong Kong, which
has led to the decline in biodiversity, For example, the biomass of large fish
associated with the sea bed, has dropped by more than 80 percent from 1950 to
1998. To solve this problem, the Hong Kong government announced to ban all
bottom and mid-water trawling activities prohibiting fishing that uses all kind
of trawlers including shrimp trawlers in the local waters in2010. The bill came
into full effect in 2012. Although this measure is necessary to protect
biodiversity and to enable sustainable development it has rendered the locally
made the shrimp paste a part of history since the major raw material-local
silver shrimp is no longer available from shrimp trawlers.
Reference:
Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Database
The Best of A Bite of China; Making Shrimp Paste
in Hong Kong Cantonese
Legislative council brief a ban on trawling activities in Hong Kong
waters
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