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Eel farmers threaten to sue paper

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Chi-fang, right, is joined by Fisheries Administration Deputy Director Chen Tien-shou, second right, and eel breeders from Chiayi yesterday as he said that no banned additives had been found in Taiwanese eels. PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES

Eel farmers yesterday demanded that the Chinese-language China Times retract a recent story with an inflammatory headline or face legal action.

Fisheries agency officials who participated in a discussion with eel farmers' groups yesterday confirmed that the groups said they would sue the daily for a story published on Tuesday with the headline: "Fisheries agency warns: eels are poisonous," if a written retraction is not issued within three days.

In addition, eel farmers plan to stage a protest that will surround the China Times' head office if the paper refuses to back down, said Shih Sheng-lung (石聖龍), an official at the agency.

Test results released by the Fisheries Agency under the Council of Agriculture (COA) on Monday showed that eight aquaculture farms around the island were using banned additives, including seven eel farms. However, agency officials point out that only a tiny minority of aquaculture farms sampled tested positive for banned additives, with 99.88 percent of samples passing the test.

"The `China Times' improperly overemphasized the isolated cases of violation."

James Sha, deputy director-general of the fisheries agency

"We have had both more and less serious test results in the past that have been announced on our Web site," said Shih Sheng-lung, an official at the agency, "but it was not until the recent report of tainted aquaculture that the press started paying attention."

Shih said that the level of enrofloxacin found in the tainted eels, from 2.59 to 9.68 parts per billion, was not considered a serious health risk and could have resulted from environmental contamination rather than deliberate usage on the part of the farmers.

"The problem is the China Times improperly overemphasized the isolated cases of violation," said James Sha (沙志一), deputy director-general of the fisheries agency. "If this ends up hurting eel farmers, we will do what we can to aid them."

Meanwhile, Sha and Shih said that the COA had not agreed to demands made by eel farmers that the COA take out advertisements explaining the issue.
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