The Fisheries Agency on Thursday announced a ban on fishing three species of large sharks — megamouth, great white and basking sharks — in a bid to preserve biological diversity in waters off Taiwan.
Fishing vessels that catch these sharks by accident must release them back into the sea, whether they are dead or alive, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
The ban applies to Taiwanese fishing vessels regardless of where they fish and is to take effect in 60 days, if no objections are raised during that time.
The ban follows a 2008 ban on fishing whale sharks and a 2018 ban on fishing giant oceanic manta rays.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists great white sharks as a “vulnerable species” and basking sharks as an “endangered species.”
Although the IUCN in November 2018 categorized megamouth sharks as a species of “least concern” on its Red List, it recommended that Taiwan require that megamouth sharks be released when accidentally caught by people catching sunfish with driftnets.
It also recommended prohibiting driftnet fishing from April to August, when megamouth shark interactions are at their peak.
Given that megamouth sharks — the third-largest shark species by size, following whale sharks and basking sharks — are not the main catch of Taiwanese fishing vessels, the ban would help maintain the diversity of marine biology and improve the nation’s image as a conservator of large cartilaginous fish, the statement said.
Megamouth sharks are one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and basking shark. They are all cartilaginous fish, which have skeletons of cartilage, not bone.
Although vessels are banned from fishing the three species, catching them for teaching or scientific research is allowed after obtaining Cabinet-level approval from the Council of Agriculture, the agency said.
Since March 2013, when catches of the species had to be reported to the authorities, 138 megamouth sharks and 32 great white sharks have been caught in waters near Taiwan, agency data showed.
The new ban was applauded by the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST), a Taipei-based non-governmental organization that has pushed for the protection of megamouth sharks.
Megamouth sharks are rarer to spot than whale sharks, EAST chief executive Shih Wu-hung (釋悟泓) said.
From the species discovery and naming in 1976 to June 17, only 226 sightings of megamouth sharks have been recorded around the world, 146 of which were caught in Taiwan, he said.
“Saving megamouth sharks is of great urgency now,” Shih said.
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