The Hong Kong government is under renewed pressure to act against ship generated air-pollution.
A member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council has lodged a complaint about exhaust emissions from ships sailing through waters off Lamma Island.
Mandy Tam Heung-man said pollution from ships had a ''serious affect'' on people living in nearby apartment blocks.
Tam also asked how many complaints had been received by the government and whether there had been any prosecutions or warnings for vessel owners.
Eva Cheng, from the Secretary for Transport and Housing, said the Marine Department had received seven complaints on emissions from ships sailing off Lamma Island between 2004 to 2006.
Three complaints led to the vessel owners being urged to take improvement measures while the remaining four complaints were not substantiated. There were no prosecutions.
Cheng also highlighted the regulations already in force controlling shipping emissions.
She said ship-sourced emissions were regulated under the Shipping and Port Control Ordinance and the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) Ordinance. She added that the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution) Regulation, under the scrutiny of the Legislative Council, would give effect to the standards of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in controlling harmful shipping emissions.
The Environment Protection Department (EPD) has also been monitoring air quality in Hong Kong.
EPD has established an air quality monitoring network with 14 monitoring stations to measure the air quality of Hong Kong,'' said Cheng.
EPD also compiles inventory of air pollutants emitted in Hong Kong on a yearly basis; the inventory includes emission of particulates, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds both on land and at sea.''
Data from EPD has recently shown a marginal increase in ship generated emissions in 2005 compared to 2004.
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