How can aquaculture develop sustainably? A full analysis of the core methods
The inner cultivation methods of sustainable aquaculture
Author: Mai Jiahao
Do you still remember that in 2015, with Taiwan under global scrutiny, the EU issued a yellow card to express dissatisfaction with Taiwan's distant-water fisheries management? Two years later, this glaring yellow card is still a hot potato for Taiwan's fisheries authorities. In 2017, the Fisheries Agency rolled out the "Distant Water Fisheries Act" and two other fisheries laws, hoping that by raising relatively rigorous distant-water fisheries management standards and increasing fines, the EU would nod and agree to withdraw the yellow card, but during the EU's return visit, it was questioned whether enforcement was actually being carried out.
In fact, Taiwan's strong fishing fleet, called strong and outstanding, is based on the number of vessels and advanced equipment, using quantity to drive quantity: more boats means more catch. In the past era of abundant fishery resources, this was an obvious logic: build boats, make money, then build more boats, not to mention that the government at the time strongly supported it, and the number of vessels doubled and multiplied, creating what is now the largest and also most fragile hand behind the global distant-water fishing industry.
Only at the end comes "coercion by force." The government should formulate regulations and implement laws based on multiple factors such as international trends, scientific evidence, and local culture, requiring operators to actually comply, so that it does not become mere slogans. Likewise, the policy-making process should, as stated above, include input from various schools of thought, various experts, and even all stakeholders to avoid working behind closed doors, so that policy becomes the backing of stakeholders rather than an issue of mutual harm.
As someone in Taiwan, or even as a member of the Earth, have you opened your mind to accept the evolution of the times? When dinner-table conversations abroad have moved from whether something tastes good or is cheap to adding "Where does it come from?" and "Is this seafood caught in an environmentally friendly way?" when facing such questions, do you still cling to the old mindset, letting operators try every possible way just to obtain "cheap goods" to satisfy our consumption habits? When operators abroad have already begun thinking about how to effectively "trace origins" and further introduce certification systems, and even "blockchain technology," are Taiwan's coastal and offshore fisheries, distant-water fisheries operators, and aquatic product supply chain companies ... still only concerned with how to cut corners and seek small immediate gains? As a maritime power, Taiwan's fleet not only operates in Taiwan's coastal and offshore waters but also ventures into the three major oceans. Without learning an extra trick or two, how can it compete with others?
Mai Jiahao
Master's degree in Science and Technology Policy, University of Sussex, UK
Currently Fisheries Project Manager at Bureau Veritas Certification Taiwan Weili International Quality Assurance Certification Co., Ltd.
Once participated in Taiwan's coastal and offshore fisheries MCS program stationed at Badouzi Port, and also visited Indonesia's "Ambon Fishing Port," South Korea's "Busan Port," Tuvalu's "Funafuti Port," Papua New Guinea's "Rabaul Port," the Marshall Islands' "Majuro Port," and Micronesia's "Pohnpei Port." Currently stationed at "Kaohsiung Port," dancing with the ocean for a lifetime, committed to absorbing as much knowledge of distant-water and offshore fisheries as possible, and with particularly keen insight into "eating."