The Hong Kong fish marketing organisation: a case study of the nature of the financial problems of a legal monopoly

Abstract

This essay provides an explanation of the phenomenon of an apparent secular fall in captured fisheries outputs in Hong Kong transacted through the Fish Marketing Organisation. The latter is a government monopoly, with the power to compel sale of landed fish through its licensed buyers, established and protected by law. The institutional characteristic of this organisation can also explain the evolution of marine fish culture industry in the area that is not subject to the forced-sale regulation of the Organisation, and the diversity of species commonly observed in the consumer market of cultured fish. The observed reduction in fisheries output in Hong Kong can be the consequence of regulation rather than a lack of regulation, as the 'the tragedy of commons' would seem to imply. Our analysis also demonstrates why the Fish Marketing Organisation has suffered from a growing budgetary deficit in recent years.