Three-pronged approach
According to the Fisheries Agency, Taiwan is among the world’s 20 largest fishing nations and is one of the top six in terms of hauls from the high seas. It catches more Pacific saury in the northern Pacific and more albacore tuna in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic than any other nation.
Yet Huang Hong-yen, the FA’s director-general, points out that the yellow-card warning issued by the European Commission in 2015 came as a wake-up call for Taiwan. Apart from strengthening communication with the EU, the ROC has revised its legislation governing high-seas fishing, by newly enacting the Act for Distant Water Fisheries, and amending both the Fisheries Act and the Act to Govern Investment in the Operation of Foreign Flag Fishing Vessels. Fishing vessels are required to make reports every day in electronic logbooks. To prevent “fish laundering” and quota busting, they can only unload or transfer their hauls at designated domestic and international fishing ports. Meanwhile, the FA has doubled the number of its observers and established an integrated system of data collection to better meet its duties as a responsible steward of global fisheries.
The FA requires long-range fishing boats to transmit their locations by satellite every hour and undergo round-the-clock tracking by the Fisheries Monitoring Center, which charts the movements of 1,200 boats, including those registered in Taiwan as a flag of convenience. This close monitoring allows the FA to determine whether boats have strayed into areas where fishing is forbidden or have illegally entered the exclusive economic zones of other nations.
Previously, the highest fine available under the Fisheries Act was NT$300,000, but today the highest fine under the amended laws governing long-range fishing is NT$4.5 million. With the FA strictly enforcing these laws, during the first three months of last year Taiwanese fishing boat owners were fined a total of NT$58.75 million for 71 violations—including the filing of false electronic reports about bigeye tuna hauls, unloading at ports without permission, and having illegible hull markings.
Taiwan Tuna Longline Association secretary-general Martin Ho explains, “The EU system gives ‘points’ for violations, whereas our system directly imposes fines from NT$2 million to tens of millions. Worldwide, only the EU and Taiwan require hourly satellite location reports and daily catch reports. Neither Japanese nor mainland Chinese boats are under similar requirements. Taiwan now monitors fishing even more strictly than the EU.”
Inspectors are at the front lines of the Fisheries Agency’s efforts to stamp out illegal fishing.