Representatives of Taiwan’s fishing industry called on the government to stand up to the organizations that make the international fishing rules, which they said are unfair toward the nation’s fishing industry.
The heads of Taiwan’s tuna and squid fishing associations said that if the government goes ahead with its plan to impose fines of up to NT$30 million (US$910,470) on their members, it would bankrupt them and they would stage a protest at the Legislative Yuan.
After four rounds of meetings with the European Commission, the Council of Agriculture drafted a bill that includes a provision for hefty fines and plans to send the bill to the Legislative Yuan later this month.
The bill was drafted in response to the EU’s warning to Taiwan in October last year that it risked being listed as “uncooperative” in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The EU’s decision to issue a “yellow card” to Taiwan was based on serious shortcomings in the nation’s fisheries legal framework, weak punitive measures that do not deter IUU fishing and lack of effective monitoring, control and surveillance of long-distance fishing fleets, an EU news release said.
The EU also said Taiwan has failed to meet the obligations of the regional fisheries management organization.
However, Taiwan Tuna Association president Hsieh Wen-jung (謝文榮) said Taiwanese fishing vessels are being singled out.
“Japan is a deep-sea fishing nation like us,” he said. “Does it not still kill dolphins and hunt whales in international waters?”
Hsieh said he and other fishery associations would call a news conference at the legislature and protest the “double standards,” which he said are “unfair” to Taiwan.
His remarks were echoed by Taiwan Squid Fishery Association president Lei Tzu-kang (雷祖綱), who said he would join the protest because a NT$30 million fine was “too high.”
The Philippines was also issued a warning by the EU, but responded by hiring more than 1,000 observers to monitor their fishing boats in international waters, Lei said.
He said he suspected the council had adopted the strategy used by South Korea, which increased its fines on its fishermen in exchange for being dropped from the EU’s warning list.
“The government should be able to communicate with foreign institutions and fight for the interests of Taiwan’s fishing industry, instead of following the South Korean government,” Lei said. “Show some backbone, please.”
Hsieh said he understood the pressure the government is facing, because he has participated in five or six international meetings on fishing regulations.
“I must point out that organizations like the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and Inter-America Tropical Tuna Commission are dominated by white people who do not see any conservation problems with catching fish that are their favorites, like skipjack tuna and yellowfin tuna, but have a lot to say about the favorites of yellow people,” Hsieh said.
“It is a typical case of double standards, which is unfair to us,” he added.
Lei said that another “unfair rule” is that Americans, who invented the purse seine, are granted much larger fishing quotas than small nations like Taiwan.
Although more Asian nations are joining international fishing commissions, Taiwan’s role in the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) is still limited and its saury quota might be skewed, given that the NPFC is headed by Japanese and South Koreans, Hsieh said.
He called on the Taiwanese government to take advantage of the nations’s role in the Western Pacific and negotiate better deals for its fishing industry, as Japan and the US step up their cooperation for a new “pivot to Asia.”
Lei said local fishing industry operators also need to update their knowledge about the latest developments.
“The government can help with their education,” he said.
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