The Fisheries Agency yesterday denied accusations by environmental group Greenpeace that four Taiwanese-flagged vessels illegally caught sharks last year in a restricted area of the northern Pacific Ocean.
Fisheries Agency Deputy Director Lin Ting-jung (林頂榮) said that Greenpeace had “misunderstood” the situation, as the area is a “voluntary closed zone” designated for specific vessels, suggesting that it is not subject to formal legal restrictions.
The area has been accessible since 2021 for trial fishing by approved vessels to collect scientific data, in line with Taiwan’s evolving shark conservation measures in the western and central Pacific, the agency said in a statement.
Photo: CNA
Trial access was approved in response to repeated calls from fishing industry representatives to lift seasonal bans, while adherence to shark management measures passed by regional fisheries management organizations was required, the statement said.
The agency would maintain its regulatory approach unless evidence is provided showing that the area functions as a shark nursery, or until the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission enacts official closures or time-based bans, the statement said.
In a separate statement yesterday, Greenpeace vessel the Rainbow Warrior observed four Taiwanese-flagged longline vessels operating in a seasonal closed zone from Aug. 4 to 10 last year, the environmental group said.
It filmed more than 10 hours of footage that documented at least 39 sharks being caught, including endangered shortfin mako, with catch records indicating that sharks were the primary target, the group said.
The fishing appeared to be “planned, targeted behavior,” Greenpeace said, adding that the agency had failed to enforce conservation rules, despite having established a 24- hour vessel monitoring center in 2017.
Huang Hsin-yi (黃馨儀), a marine project director for Greenpeace, said that the Fisheries Agency had not issued a single fine for those caught contravening seasonal shark bans since 2017, despite having the tools to monitor the activity.
The agency should implement systematic inspections of fishing activity, publish vessel tracking data for third-party monitoring and establish an electronic observer system similar to those used internationally, Huang said.
“If the government chooses not to investigate or neglects to deal with it, it will be tantamount to tacitly allowing illegal catches to enter the market,” she said.
The Fisheries Agency said that Taiwan bans fishing of several shark species, including whale sharks, basking sharks, megamouth sharks and great white sharks.
International bodies such as the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission prohibit catches of oceanic whitetip sharks, silky sharks, mobular rays and manta rays.
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