Taiwan is to launch a four-year, NT$400 million (US$12.61 million) project that would use artificial intelligence (AI) to help trawlers fish in the Pacific Ocean, Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said.
The program, which is to begin next year, would use AI to integrate satellite imagery and oceanographic data to find fish, Chen said at an event celebrating National Fishers’ Day in Taipei on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the National Science and Technology Council’s joint program would enhance fishers’ ability to find tuna and mackerel in the high seas and predict yields ahead of time, he said.
Photo: CNA
Fishers need to make greater use of technology amid the challenges posed by climate change on global fisheries, he added.
Taiwan’s fishing trawlers last year reported a gross income of NT$96.5 billion, a worrisome sign of decline, Chen said.
Historically, fishing trawlers had an annual income of between NT$95 billion and NT$110 billion, while the fisheries industry typically generated NT$350 billion annually, he said.
The program would also monitor fisheries in Taiwan’s near seas, he said, adding that data about inland fisheries and fish farms would gradually be incorporated into the database.
Chen did not give a timeline for when the system would be available for fisheries, saying that it is still in early development.
Taiwan leads in data on Central and Western Pacific fisheries, Fisheries Agency Director-General Wang Mao-chen (王茂城) said.
Foreign partners in the program would likely include Australia and island nations in the Southern Pacific, although Taiwanese fishers would have priority access, he said.
The agency does not rule out commercializing access to the predictive data, should the technology prove successful, he added.
A Fisheries Agency spokesperson said the ministry is working on an AI-driven ecological monitoring and digital governance system that encompasses aquaculture, high seas fisheries management and harbor administration.
The event also awarded 12 exemplary fishery workers, including Wu Tien-nan (吳天南), a 95-year-old man from Tainan who became a fisher when he was 13.
Wu’s career as an aquafarmer, which focuses on prawns, sea bass, milkfish and groupers, is a microcosm of the sector’s history in Taiwan, agency officials said.
Wu received special commendation for his role in preserving the craft of bamboo raft making, old fishers’ rhymes for counting fries during trading and promoting educational programs that allow children to experience fishing village life, they said.
Wu said he still inspects his grow-out ponds daily.
Two of the fishery workers who received commendations were women.
Yu Chin-feng (于錦鳳), who designed a cutting-edge fish farm in Kaohsiung that utilizes smart technologies, liquefied natural gas-cooled water and cocktails of beneficial microbes, was awarded for introducing innovation in the industry.
Lei Xi-ying (雷細英), a naturalized Taiwanese national from China, was commended for holding classes on cooking fish at home to popularize seafood and charitable works in Yulin County.
Additional reporting by CNA
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