Taiwan has to improve its fishing practices and eliminate illegal behavior or face trade sanctions from the EU, environmental group Greenpeace said.
Greenpeace reported last month that a Taiwanese fishing vessel, the Shuen De Ching No. 888, was illegally harvesting shark fins and throwing the bodies of the sharks into the sea near Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific.
The European Commission issued a yellow card to Taiwan on Oct. 1, warning that it risked being identified as an uncooperative country in the fight against “illegal, unreported and unregulated” fishing.
Greenpeace said the Fisheries Agency sent officials to check on the Shuen De Ching No. 888 following the ship’s return to Taiwan and found that it had falsely recorded its catch, cut fins off sharks and thrown their bodies into the sea, and violated the ban on fishing for black sharks.
However, the agency’s count of the ship’s catch was far short of Greenpeace’s, indicating that it is not capable of plugging management loopholes, Greenpeace said.
That raised doubts that the agency would be able to solve the yellow card problem within six months, Greenpeace said, and if Taiwan cannot make improvements within that time frame, the EU could impose trade sanctions on Taiwanese seafood.
Based on its annual fish exports to the EU, Taiwan stands to lose about NT$520 million (US$15.91 million) a year, it said.
Greenpeace oceans campaigner Yen Ning (顏寧) said the captain of the Taiwanese ship admitted that it transported a catch early last month, but an investigation by the Fisheries Agency had found nothing and it ended up saying only that the ship made an incorrect report.
The agency fined the ship NT$150,000 and its catch was confiscated, a punishment Yen said was too lenient.
Yen said that reform of Taiwan’s deep-sea fishing system is urgent. She cited as examples South Korea and the Philippines, which stepped up regulation after being issued yellow cards.
South Korea now imposes fines of up to NT$28 million for illegal fishing, while the Philippines raised its fines to NT$31.5 million. Taiwan’s fines are between NT$30,000 and NT$300,000.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard