Taiwan is the world’s fourth-largest shark catcher, a report on shark conservation said yesterday.
The Future of Sharks: A Review of Action and Inaction, a report released by the wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC and the Pew Environment Group and scheduled to be reviewed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Committee on Fisheries next week, identifies the top 20 shark-catching countries and other entities and assesses their management of conservation measures agreed upon in 2001.
The analysis shows that the top 20 countries account for about 80 percent of total reported shark catches, or about 640,000 tonnes, with Indonesia, India, Spain and Taiwan accounting for 13 percent, 9 percent, 7.3 percent and 5.8 percent respectively.
“The future of many shark populations is essentially in the hands of the top 20,” the two organizations said, adding that the International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks “has yet to be fully implemented” since it was adopted by the FAO a decade ago.
About 30 percent of all shark species are threatened or near threatened with extinction as a result of unregulated fishing, much of it to meet the high demand for fins used as an ingredient in shark fin soup, a popular dish in East Asian countries, the report said.
The two organizations said the committee, which will hold a meeting from Monday to Friday in Rome to examine the effectiveness of the internal plan of action, prioritized its review on top catchers — including Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Argentina, Mexico, Pakistan and Malaysia — with little or no management of shark fisheries.
Most of the top 20 shark catchers “have failed to demonstrate what, if anything, they are doing to save these imperiled species,” the organizations said.
In Taipei, Fisheries Agency Director Sha Chih-yi (沙志一) yesterday said Taiwan had enforced conservation measures adopted by regional fisheries management organizations since its National Plan of Action was put into effect in 2006 and was considering doing more to protect other endangered marine species.
The regulations imposed by the agency on Taiwanese vessels include requiring vessels to transship and offload fins and carcasses together and ensuring that the fin to whole-body weight is less than 5 percent, Sha said.
Taiwanese vessels are also required to report the weight of shark bodies and fins on board when entering and leaving ports, as well as the weight of shark fins and carcasses offloaded while in port, he said.
Saying the regulations met the requirements on shark conservation and management measures of regional fisheries management organizations, Sha said the government would nevertheless enhance its inspection procedures to crack down on illegal fishing.
Sha said Taiwan was also considering imposing a ban on imports of fins and shark products from countries that are not participants in the international conservation and management plan to help end illegal fishing of endangered sharks.
Taiwan will also take part in the committee meeting next week in its capacity as a member of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS