A Taiwanese fishing crew has been accused of contravening shark fin harvesting laws while on the high seas in the Pacific Ocean and is to face disciplinary action upon returning to Taiwan, the Fisheries Agency said.
Fisheries Agency Deputy Director-General Tsay Tzu-yaw (蔡日曜) said coast guard officers boarded the Shuen De Ching (順德慶) No. 888 on Thursday and completed its inspection the following day.
The officers confirmed that the crew had been finning sharks and disposing of the carcasses in the sea. The boat’s hold has been sealed, Tsay said.
The coast guard is escorting the Pingtung-registered vessel back to Taiwan, a journey that is to take about 25 days.
The vessel’s operating license could be suspended for between one month and one year, Tsay said.
On Sept. 10, Greenpeace accused the vessel of illegal fishing near Papua New Guinea and of being in violation of shark fins harvesting laws.
Greenpeace East Asia senior communications officer Fay Lee (李芳怡) said Greenpeace personnel boarded the boat after obtaining consent from its captain. The logbook showed three blue sharks with a combined weight of 55kg had been caught, but the boat’s hold had 75kg of shark fins.
Lee said the weight of the fins suggests that they could have been harvested from 42 sharks, which is a gross violation of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) shark-fin harvesting regulations.
The regulations stipulate that the weight of shark fins should not exceed 5 percent of the total weight of sharks taken.
Tsay said it was the first time that a tip-off was the catalyst for a coast guard inspection of a Taiwanese vessel suspected of operating illegally in the central and western Pacific.
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