Greenpeace Taiwan yesterday erected a sculpture of a hand holding a yellow card in front of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters in Taipei, urging the two parties to address fisheries policy after Taiwan was given a yellow card warning over illegal fishing activities in September.
The European Commission in October identified Taiwan as an uncooperative nation in the fight against illegal fishing after a Taiwanese ship was found to have broken a shark-fin harvest law in waters near Papua New Guinea.
Taiwan’s aquatic products could be banned in EU markets if the nation is not able to resolve the issue in six months.
Photo: Chen Wei-han, Taipei Times
Greenpeace Taiwan said that policies tabled by the two parties did not address illegal fishing, distant fishing management or remedy measures in response to the yellow card warning, with the KMT’s platform leaning toward tourism and the DPP’s toward offshore energy and marine current power development.
The organization called on the parties to revise the Fisheries Act (漁業法) to clamp down on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, establish a traceability system for aquatic products and ensure information transparency.
The organization’s ocean campaigner Lisa Tsai (蔡佩芸) said: “We have not seen any specific policy design on fisheries resources management on a national scale despite the two parties’ and the Fisheries Agency’s repeated pledges to do so. That is why we are here today, to urge them to honor their pledge.”
DPP official Yang Chang-chen (楊長鎮) said that the party supports the reformation of the fishing industry and would move to synchronizing national regulations with international standards, as well as enacting soft laws.
KMT official Huang Po-chung (黃柏均) said that the KMT accepts the group’s demands and the party also proposed to set up an environmentally friendly fishing fleet at each of the nation’s fishing villages to protect fishery resources and human rights.
Fisheries Agency Deputy Director Huang Hung-yan (黃鴻燕) said the agency is revising the act in accordance with the EU standards by substantially raising the fine limit for illegal fishing, and it would submit the draft amendment to the Legislative Yuan for review in the next legislative session in February.
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