The Kaohsiung City Government yesterday launched an inspection of a steakhouse in the city’s Fongshan District (鳳山) that allegedly served fish fillet made of threatened humphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum), a species on the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) list of protected wildlife. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as vulnerable.
Kaohsiung Agriculture Bureau officials yesterday collected raw fish from the restaurant so the Central Police University could begin conducting laboratory tests after receiving a tip-off about the alleged violation.
The fish was promoted as a “special meal,” priced at NT$198, with the name of the threatened species printed on the restaurant’s menu.
The humphead parrotfish was added to the COA list in July last year, with the agency saying that there are less than 30 fish in the nation’s surrounding waters.
The fish inhabit coastal waters off Kenting (墾丁), Green Island (綠島) and Lanyu (蘭嶼) — also known as Orchid Island — and grow up to 1.3m long on average, the council said.
The IUCN said that the density of humphead parrotfish shoals is in decline worldwide, with the species facing extinction in several areas, including Guam, the Marshall Islands, Fiji and East Africa.
The steakhouse’s owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said he purchased about 15kg of the fish, which he started serving about a week ago.
He said he bought the fish from the Philippines and did not know that it was a protected species.
“Had I known, I would not have posted about the dish on the Internet, would I?” he said.
However, bureau division director Lin Chih-hsien (林志嫻) said that ignorance is not a valid defense or reason to escape punishment.
Citing the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法), she said that if the university’s test results ascertain that Chen was selling humphead parrotfish, he would face a prison term of between six months and five years, and a possible fine of between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000.
She added that the bureau would use information on sales invoices to trace the origin of the fish to track down possible suspects of illegal fishing.
Preliminary documentation by National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium researcher Ho Hsuan-chin (何宣慶) and Taiwan Aquarium and Zoological Park supervisor Hung Ming-shih (洪明仕), conducted based on pictures of the fish provided by Chen identified it as humphead parrotfish.
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