The marine capture fishery based in Hong Kong is a multi-gear, multi-species fishery, mainly exploiting the tropical demersal resources of the northern part of the South China Sea continental shelf and supplying the bulk of the food consumption needs of the local population. About70% of the Hong Kong fish production is obtained by trawling, with the remainder by various selective gears such as lines, gill nets and purse seines (Figure 1). The state of the Hong Kong capture fishery has been described by Gaiger and Richards (1980) and AFD (1986). Production from trawlers increased from 82 thousand mt in 1973 to 141 thousand mt in 1985 (Figure 1) despite a decline in numbers of trawlers in recent years (Table 1). This suggests changes in the fishing power and fishing patterns of these subsectors and indeed the engine powers of newly licensed vessels also show a consistent upward trend for pair trawlers and stern trawlers (Figure 2). This paper examines the factors behind these changes particularly as they relate to the manner of resource exploitation, by an analysis of the catch and effort information of the pair and stern trawl subsectors.