F. D. Ommanney (1903–1980)

One could ask why read a book about Hong Kong written in the early 1960s recounting the author's three years of residence in the 1950s. The answer is that it's important not to forget history. When the author wrote of his experiences working as a fisheries expert in a Hong Kong university, the year 1997 was thirty-five years off and no one was really concerned about the colony's future.

Author Ommanney first arrived in HK with a naval force at the end of the second World War in August 1945. His early history of Hong Kong is very well written, in fact so well written that I instantly recognised several verbatim paragraphs that can be found on current internet sites that cover the subject (missing the quote marks and source--shame shame--why not give credit where credit is due?).

I lived in Hong Kong twice (once in the 1980's and again in the mid 1990's) and I found Ommanney's descriptions of the New Territories, the people, the food, HK customs, all very evocative and nostalgic. But I also found his words musing about HK's future instructive. The colony, he wrote, "is due to return to China in thirty-five years from now if the lease is not renewed. No one knows what the intentions of the Chinese People's Republic are with regard to this tiny foreign appendage to its territory. China could swallow it up easily enough, but at present seems content to use it as a source of foreign exchange and a window on the free world" (pp. 12-13). As I write this, China is building bases in the South China Sea on tiny atolls, staking its claim and smarting over President-elect Trump's taking of a phone call from the Taiwan President (as it challenges the PRC's 'One China policy'). This book reminded me that China has a very long history and views time differently than many of us do. One of its dynasties alone (the Han, 220 BC-206 AD) lasted longer than all of the USA's history since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. It will be interesting to see where China's borders are in another thirty-five years.… (meer)

It's all about fish. Their evolution, biology, habitat, food sources, reproductive strategies, parenting methods, schooling behavior, migration routes, etc. The diversity of fish life in the world is really astounding, and the book just touches on some of the many different species, but I think does a good job at highlighting the wide variety of forms fishes have adapted, and different means by which they make their living in the water. Yes it's an old, outdated book but the pictures are pretty good for their age, and I learned a lot of facts. The last few chapters describe some then-new scientific studies that tracked where fish go in the ocean, using a variety of tagging devices in the hopes that fishermen, sportsmen and others would return them when found. There's also a chapter that discusses how the fishing industry was beginning to a see decline in stock numbers, and strategies to remedy that (interesting look at how it was managed in different countries, which I'm sure is all very different now).

from the Dogear Diary… (meer)