The Cabinet yesterday said it would complete a draft proposal to ban fishing in a portion of Penghu County by June in response to a resident’s online proposal.
Wu Tsu-hsiang (吳祖祥) submitted a proposal on the National Development Council’s Public Policy Network Participation Platform, asking lawmakers to prohibit fishing in the Chilang Strait (吉廊) around the county’s four southernmost main islands.
The ministry would draft a proposal to progressively implement policies that would ensure the rights of fishers and protect the local marine environment, Deputy Minister of the Interior Hua Ching-chun (花敬群) told a news conference yesterday.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The ministry is to work out details, such as scope, fees for entrance to protected areas and how those fees would be used, within the next six months, Hua added.
Penghu County Commissioner Chen Kuang-fu (陳光復) in a video said that he is opposed to any ban on fishing, which would hurt the livelihood of local fishers.
Wangan Township (望安) Mayor Hsu Hsian-te (許賢德) said he suspects the proposal is intended to push fishers out of the area to facilitate the development of the diving industry.
Of greater concern to the county is the need to crack down on illegal fishing, particularly by Chinese fishing boats, Hsu said, adding that if illegal fishing is stopped, the local marine environment could more effectively be protected.
“I am not in the diving industry, I am just a common resident. All of the time, energy and money I put into getting support for this proposal came from my own pocket,” Wu said. “I have not personally benefited from the process in the least.”
Wu said he is disappointed that what he intended as a bid to protect the county’s ecology has turned into an instrument of political strife, adding that protection of the marine environment is the responsibility of the National Marine Park Headquarters.
“Everyone is standing on the side of the fishers, fighting some imaginary enemy,” Wu said. “I hope the park authorities will take this as an opportunity to rehabilitate the county’s waters.”
Turning the region into a conservation area is just the first step, Hua said, adding that the ministry hopes it would later become a sustainable fishing and a marine ecology park.
Whether to completely ban fishing in the area or maintain a partial ban requires further discussion, he added.
“Fishing of migratory species and gathering of marine plants and shellfish would be allowed, even from a marine park point of view,” Hua said, adding that details would be worked out later.
Any ban on fishing would not be passed before the middle of next year and might not be implemented until the following year, he added.
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