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Hong Kong aquaculture scheme nurtures young fish farmers to revive city’s seafood industry
A Lamma Island-based programme teaching sustainable fish farming methods comes as the Hong Kong industry sees stiff mainland competition
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Would you be willing to eat a fish you raised?
This was the question that faced 25 young Hongkongers one December afternoon on Lamma Island, who had gathered to share a simple meal of steamed fish that they had nurtured over nine months.
This “simple” meal defied a citywide norm. Dinner tables in Hong Kong will almost always include at least one classic seafood dish – from typhoon shelter crab to steamed grouper – but most of the time, that seafood did not come from the city’s waters.
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This is the paradox of a city built on its harbour: its once-celebrated fishing industry is fading into a “sunset” trade, sustained by an ageing fleet compromised by warming seas and fiercer typhoons. And as veteran fishers retire, their children are more likely to steer pleasure yachts than family trawlers.
But on Lamma Island, a local charity’s new initiative is trying to change the tide.
The Aquaculture Youth Development Programme, launched in March 2025 by the non-profit organisation Life Jungle, selected 25 Hong Kong locals between the ages of 18 and 40 from diverse backgrounds and professions. Their task was to raise fish from juveniles to market size at the Lamma Fisherfolk’s Village by December.
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