Taiwan moves to protect endangered whale shark

To save the endangered whale shark, the Council of Agriculture's Fisheries Administration (農委會魚業處) has established new rules in which fishermen who find whale sharks in their catch are required to hand them over to the government.

The new system, due to come into effect at the beginning of July, means that it will be illegal for fishermen to sell whale sharks as food.

Whale sharks that are caught and reported will be taken by the administration and may then be released back into the sea or handed over to scientists for research.

Violators of the regulations who do not report whale sharks that they catch will be fined a sum between NT$15,000 and NT$75,000.

The whale shark is the world's largest shark and grows to a length of between 5.4m and 10.6m, the average length being 7.6m. It is found in tropical and temperate waters, both oceanic and coastal. In recent years intensive shark-hunting around the world has driven the whale shark to the brink of extinction.

Taiwan is one of the few countries in the world that catches whale sharks for food purposes. Commercial hunting of whale sharks began in Taiwan around 10 years ago.

The tenderness of their meat makes it highly attractive to Taiwanese consumers.

The average price for whale shark meat is NT$200 per kilogram, which means a 1,000kg whale shark would fetch about NT$200,000.

However, the number of whale sharks is decreasing and their sizes are getting smaller around Taiwan, according to a fisherman from Hualien (花蓮).

"I don't think the new system will function well, because the whale sharks fetch very high prices, and the fine is not high enough to stop the fishermen. The government should appeal to the public to not eat the whale sharks," said Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正), a fisherman from Hualien on the country's east coast.

According to the Fisheries Administration, this is the first step for protecting the whale shark. The administration says it will make further moves to stop the catching of whale sharks.