■ Fishing sanctions `unlikely'
The chance of an international fishery meeting imposing sanctions on Taiwan for its fishing practices is slim, a Fisheries Administration official said yesterday. Fisheries Administration Deputy Director-General Sha Chih-yi (沙志一) made the remarks as the second annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission began yesterday.
Sha said Japan is expected to make fresh allegations about Taiwan's fishing practices on the high seas, but Taiwan will defend its fishing rights and elaborate on its fishing policies over the past year. Owing to pressure from Japan, which complained about Taiwan's overfishing, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) decided last month to cut Taiwan's bigeye tuna quota from 14,900 tonnes this year to 4,600 tonnes for the coming year. As a result, 42 fishing vessels specializing in catching bigeye tuna in the Atlantic will not be able to operate next year. Only 15 Taiwanese vessels will be allowed to continue fishing bigeye tuna in the Atlantic next year. The Council of Agriculture has offered to compensate each boat operator whose vessel is not fishing NT$5.97 million (US$178,200), but shipowners have estimated that they will lose an estimated NT$14.23 million.
■ NT dollar falls
The New Taiwan dollar declined against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, losing NT$0.037 to close at NT$33.554. A total of US$688 million changed hands during the day's trading.
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