Disputes about fishing vessels illegally crossing borders are frequent and it will be hard to bring a peaceful end to these disagreements. While we often hear about non-Taiwanese fishing vessels illegally entering the waters of other countries to fish, Taiwanese fishing vessels do this more often than boats from other countries.
According to one official statistic, 39 Taiwanese fishing vessels were detained by foreign governments from 2000 to 2002. Taiwan’s actions have attracted strong criticism from international maritime conservation groups. To allow our fishermen to go out to sea with peace of mind and prevent incidents from setting off larger disputes with other countries, the government needs to face up to the severity of these problems and come up with concrete ways of solving them.
Taiwan’s 200km exclusive economic zone overlaps at many points with the exclusive economic zones of China, the Philippines and Japan, but the government has drawn up what it calls a “temporary enforcement line.” Not having engaged in talks with other countries to secure approval for this line, the government has not been able to forcefully protect its fishermen. This has resulted in Taiwanese fishing vessels often entering contentious areas, with the less serious cases involving the seizure of Taiwanese boats and huge fines, while the more serious cases have resulted in prison terms and even the deaths of fishermen. Many of these cases still require outside assistance to be resolved.
Given Taiwan’s current international political situation and the increasing complexity of maritime disputes, relying on official negotiations to get Taiwanese fishermen greater fishing rights is a lot easier said than done, as can be seen from the slow pace of the current fishing negotiations between Taiwan and the Philippines, and negotiations with Japan.
Although the government has established the Overseas Fisheries Development Council in the hope that fishing access fees can be used to legally acquire expanded fishing rights for the nation’s fishermen, the effects of this effort have been limited. The fishing access fees of some nations have been continuously increasing, which has created financial burdens on fishing vessel companies.
The government hopes to get more maritime space in which Taiwanese fishermen can work safely by cooperating and negotiating with fisheries organizations in other countries. However, this is an extremely difficult task and the concerned government departments should not pretend it will be easy.
To maintain stable development in the fishing industry, Taiwan’s fishing policies must be reformed by decreasing overcapacity and restoring coastal fishing resources. At a time when fishing space in international waters is being restricted, and fish stocks are declining in the region and globally, Taiwan has too many fishing vessels and too much capacity. Productivity is dropping, leading to overfishing and the depletion of fish populations. For many fishing vessels, the income from fish caught is not enough to meet operational costs and to cut down on labor costs, many Taiwanese fishing operations still rely on large numbers of foreign fishermen who will work for less money. This is also a contributing factor in the bloody disputes that keep happening out at sea.
One solution is that the government can use subsides to buy back fishing vessels or scrap vessels to reduce overcapacity. To date, fishing agencies have been unable to get an accurate grasp on important scientific data such as how many fishing vessels and how much tonnage Taiwan needs to maintain its fishing fleet, as well as what the most appropriate “fishing effort” would be. The result has been to turn “fisheries management” into empty talk. Fisheries research organizations should be invited to provide relevant data and establish complete databases as soon as possible. These should then be used as a basis for designing exit strategies for part of the fishing workforce, with priority placed on scuttling old, less efficient boats and encouraging fishermen who no longer want to go to sea to move to other areas of the fishing industry or change professions. Such measures would help solve the problems caused by declining fish stocks.
Poaching has also harmed the livelihoods of law-abiding fishermen and one often hears about Taiwanese owners registering their fishing vessels in other countries. As a way to subvert international fishing standards and carry out illegal fishing. To stop this and to avoid international fishing organizations punishing Taiwan with lower fishing quotas, the government must provide a better domestic fishing environment.
In the past, Taiwan had rich coastal fishing resources, but overfishing and severe pollution from household and industrial wastewater damaged these coastal areas. The government did nothing to stop this or restore the affected areas and this has emptied the seas around Taiwan of fish. Now most fresh fish sold at local wharfs is imported.
To increase Taiwan’s coastal fishing resources, the government should focus its efforts on coastal fishing and fish farming in cooperation with leaders of fishing villages. This should include measures like establishing fishing moratorium periods, fish conservation zones and restrictions on the specifications of fishing nets and gear. It should also include giving fish populations that can be restored a chance to recover, building artificial reefs, releasing farmed fish and establishing marine aquaculture. Doing this would enable Taiwanese fishermen to fish in their own waters instead of having to go to foreign fishing grounds.
The government has absolute power to implement these changes and can take immediate action. There is no need to wait endlessly for fishing rights negotiations to succeed or the goodwill of other parties when what Taiwan needs is right in front of it.
Du Yu is chief executive officer of the Chen-Li Task Force for Agricultural Reform.
Translated by Drew Cameron
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