The European Commission (EC) identified Taiwan as an uncooperative nation in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing on Thursday after a Taiwanese ship was allegedly found illegally trawling for tuna and carrying shark fins in international waters near Papua New Guinea last month.
The EC said on Thursday that its decision to issue a “yellow card” to Taiwan is based on “serious shortcomings in the fisheries legal framework, a system of sanctions that does not deter IUU fishing, and lack of effective monitoring, control and surveillance of the long-distance fleet, while Taiwan does not systematically comply with the obligations of regional fisheries management organizations.”
The EC said it proposed an action plan for Taiwan and has given the nation six months to resolve the identified issues.
Should Taiwan fail to address them within six months, Taiwanese aquatic products might be banned in EU markets. Fisheries exports to the EU amount to 13 million euros (US$14.6 million) every year.
In response, the Council of Agriculture’s Fisheries Agency said that the EC’s unilateral decision to yellow-flag Taiwan was beyond understanding, as Taiwan and the EU had held four high-level talks on combating IUU fishing since 2012, and the nation had amended the Fisheries Act (漁業法), installed electronic recording and reporting systems on fishing vessels, and monitored load and unload operations at ports, as well as trans-shipping in accordance with the international standards.
Taiwan’s designation as an uncooperative nation would not have an immediate impact on the fishing industry, as Taiwanese fisheries imports are still allowed in the EU, the agency said.
Activist group Greenpeace boarded a Taiwanese tuna longliner — Shuen De Ching No. 888 — last month and reportedly found 75kg of shark fins on the vessel without the corresponding carcasses.
The agency said that it later found 110 shark fins without carcasses on the vessel, which was an obvious violation of shark finning.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
COOLING OFF: Temperatures are expected to fall to lows of about 20°C on Sunday and possibly 18°C to 19°C next week, following a wave of northeasterly winds on Friday The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Sunday forecast more rain and cooler temperatures for northern Taiwan this week, with the mercury dropping to lows of 18°C, as another wave of northeasterly winds sweeps across the country. The current northeasterly winds would continue to affect Taiwan through today, with precipitation peaking today, bringing increased rainfall to windward areas, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. The weather system would weaken slightly tomorrow before another, stronger wave arrives on Friday, lasting into next week, Liu said. From yesterday to today, northern Taiwan can expect cool, wet weather, with lows of 22°C to 23°C in most areas,
RSS