Fisheries Agency plans to open one quarter of the nation's fish ponds for solar power, fishing industry angrily denounces the government for destroying fishing

Disputes over solar power grabbing agricultural resources continue unabated. In addition to farmland being improperly developed, aquaculture is facing the largest land grab in Taiwan's history! According to exclusive information obtained by News and Market, the Fisheries Agency is expected to release ten thousand hectares of fish ponds for "aquavoltaics," accounting for nearly 1/4 of the nation's total aquaculture area. At present, six aquavoltaics project sites have already passed review, with a combined area approaching seven hundred hectares.

According to the review regulations for aquavoltaics, aquaculture fish ponds with solar power facilities installed must maintain at least 70% of their original output. The Fisheries Research Institute conducted aquaculture trials under solar panels last year (2019). Originally, two years were needed to obtain complete data, but the Fisheries Agency announced the release of fish ponds ahead of schedule. Aquaculture fishermen angrily denounced the government for acting hastily. Lin Jinlang, chairman of the Yunlin County Shallow Sea Aquaculture Association, said: "Fishermen are already suffocating under environmental pollution and extreme climate, and now they also have to face unfair land competition from solar power, becoming a big pie fought over by operators and politicians."

Tsai Hui-hsun, director of the Earth Citizen Foundation, who also serves as a review committee member for aquavoltaics at the Fisheries Agency, pointed out that aquavoltaics not only reduces the land fishermen can use for aquaculture, but also reduces space for ecological habitats. The Fisheries Agency should promptly implement environmental and social checks on aquavoltaics project sites, and before that, all project site reviews should be suspended.