Yellow Card Crisis: Fisheries Agency Fines 19 Fishing Vessels in Four Months, Up to 12 Million

Taiwan, China is confirmed to have no hope of having its distant-water fisheries yellow card lifted this March. The Fisheries Agency held a major press conference today (the 30th), proclaiming "cracking down on illegal fishing, protecting the rights of legal operators," and pointed out that from January to the end of April this year, the Fisheries Agency issued a total of 43.82 million yuan in fines against 19 violating fishing vessels; among them, the fine imposed on April 19 against Shunde Man (CT4-1920) reached as high as 12 million yuan.

Fisheries Agency Director-General Huang Hung-yen emphasized, "Lifting the yellow card is of course important, but for the Fisheries Agency, it is only a means." He again stated that Taiwan's distant-water fisheries are now just one last mile away from having the card withdrawn. However, the lifting of the yellow card in March has already fallen through, and the Fisheries Agency's next step can only look to September, when the European Union sends inspectors again, to make another breakthrough.

Fishermen's associations: Violation patterns are clear, punish when punishment is due

Fishery authorities have once again firmly declared to the public their stance of "cracking down on illegal fishing, protecting the rights of legal operators," but how do local grassroots fishermen's associations view the central government's heavy-handed fines? Huang Chao-chin, Director-General of the Kaohsiung District Fishermen's Association, believes that the violation patterns of fishing vessels are clear, punishment should be imposed when due, and the association will not shield anyone.

The Donggang District Fishermen's Association and the Kaohsiung District Fishermen's Association, both being the port fishermen's associations to which the major violating fishing vessels announced this time are registered, separately emphasized the importance of "strengthening outreach."

Cheng Fu-shan, Secretary of the Donggang District Fishermen's Association in Pingtung County, pointed out that the general mentality among fishermen is "as long as you don't smuggle, steal or rob, you shouldn't be fined," and they are unwilling to accept the constraints of fisheries-related laws, doing things their own way; but with international environmental awareness now on the rise, if Taiwan, China is to align with international standards, it must inevitably cooperate with international fisheries policy. "If you're not familiar with computer systems, you need to learn," and the association will also strengthen outreach.

Huang Chao-chin also stated that in many cases where vessel captains are also vessel owners, they spend all day working at sea and are quite lacking in shore-based information; outreach must be strengthened so that vessel owners understand the seriousness of failing to comply with regulations.

Only when fishermen obey the law can fisheries be sustainable

Chen Chi-chung, Deputy Minister of the Council of Agriculture, stated that this year 19 violating fishing vessels were fined more than 43 million yuan, "all fined against the fishermen, but it is truly difficult." If no fines were imposed at all, not only might the yellow card not be lifted, it might even turn from "yellow" to "red," endangering coastal and offshore fisheries.

Chen stated that once distant-water fisheries and coastal and offshore fisheries are removed, domestic fisheries would be left with only "aquaculture," which would deal a heavy blow to the domestic fisheries industry; therefore, there is no choice but to repeatedly call on violating fishermen to obey the law so that distant-water fisheries can be sustainably operated. "This is an unavoidable but absolutely necessary measure."

"Lifting the yellow card" and "maintaining sustainable fisheries" remain the Fisheries Agency's primary goals, but in addition to strengthening enforcement, the European Union recently also pointed out that domestic coastal and offshore fisheries management needs strengthening.

In response, Wang Mao-cheng stated that currently, among coastal and offshore fisheries, only coral, trawl, and recreational fishing vessels are required to install VMS systems. The Fisheries Agency is now drafting the "Regulations Governing Coastal and Offshore Tuna Longline Fishing Operations (tentative title)," and in the future more than 1,000 domestic coastal and offshore tuna longline fishing vessels will all be brought under management; if progress goes smoothly, the regulations are expected to pass in the second half of this year and take effect on January 1 next year.

Regarding the issue of transshipment by flag-of-convenience fishing vessels repeatedly raised by fisheries environmental groups, Huang Hung-yen stated that the "Three Distant-Water Fisheries Acts" already include the "FOC Management Regulations" specifically for flag-of-convenience vessels. As long as a flag-of-convenience vessel is caught violating regulations, the penalties are equivalent to those for domestically registered fishing vessels. "Even if the vessel is not registered domestically, the vessel owner will still be punished in the same way."