Tue, Dec 01, 2015 page4

• Fisheries Agency rejects listing of fish on Red List

  WRONG MOLA: Ocean sunfish expert Chang Yuan-chou said the most fished species by Hualien fishermen in the ‘Molidae’ family is the sharptail mola, not the ‘Mola mola’

  • By Hua Meng-ching, Lin Hui-chin and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writer
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  The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) early last month put the ocean sunfish, or Mola mola, on its Red List as a vulnerable species threatened with extinction, citing overfishing in multiple regions.

  The Red List categorizes species the IUCN has deemed threatened, which are ordered into “critically endangered,” “endangered” and “vulnerable.”

  In response, Council of Agriculture Fisheries Agency Director-General Tsay Tzu-yaw (蔡日耀) said that the IUCN is a non-governmental organization, and its reports might have been made without worldwide evaluations or the gathering of sufficient scientific evidence.

  Ocean sunfish are commercially fished in Hualien and Taitung counties, but their annually reported catches have not declined compared with historical data, Tsay said, adding that the agency does not believe the species’ survival is at risk.

  “The IUCN saying that the ocean sunfish is endangered might be due to the species being threatened in other nations and regions. Whether this affects us is to be determined by detailed studies that track the size and physiological changes of its populations near the nation,” he said.

  “If their survival is indeed threatened, we do not rule out imposing fishing regulations like those for whale sharks if they are necessary to ensure population growth,” Tsay added.

  Hualien Fishermen’s Association secretary-general Wang Teng-yi (王鐙億) said that it was untrue that “catches are getting smaller.”

  According to the association’s records, Hualien fishermen catch between 6,000 and 12,000 ocean sunfish per year. The fishing season typically begins in April or May, when the fish ride the Kuroshio Current to the open sea east of Taiwan.

  “The species that was declared vulnerable is one of five in the Molidae family, and is not the main catch in Hualien’s seas,” said Chang Yuan-chou (張永州), an ocean sunfish expert who is an assistant professor at Tzu Chi University.

  The most-fished species by Hualien fishermen in the Molidae family is Masturus lanceolatus, or the sharptail mola, which the IUCN has categorized as a species of least concern, Chang said.

  “There are misconceptions that the size of ocean sunfish being fished is diminishing. In fact, the size of ocean sunfish is seasonal, with the fish being larger in summer months, such as April and May, and smaller in winter months,” Chang said.

  “Ocean sunfish lay millions of eggs at a time and are considered prolific. Their main natural predators are sharks, whose populations have been decreasing worldwide. The ocean sunfish prey mostly on jellyfish,” he added.

  However, Taiwan lacks long-term records of ocean sunfish fishing, even though similar data is available for tuna, squid and whale sharks, Chang said.

  He called on the Fisheries Agency to begin drafting legislation that would require fishermen to report their catches to the government.

  “Many other nations have fishing statistics that go back 10, 20 or even 30 years, and those long-term records provide a clearer picture of the use of maritime resources. If those records were available, Taiwan would be able to better defend itself against accusations of overfishing and protect the rights of its fisherman,” Chang said.
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