Container ship Tec-Shun grounding causes NT$170 million in fishing losses on the North Coast, compensation only one-tenth; fishermen roar, "Give us back our fishing rights"

The TS Taipei ran aground off Shimen in March of the year before last, and its hull was battered by waves for days, causing heavy fuel oil to leak and severely polluting the nearby coast, further affecting the livelihoods of surrounding fishermen. With the deadline for claiming compensation for fishery losses set to expire in March, and with the 170 million yuan in fishery catch losses assessed by National Taiwan Ocean University, T.S. Lines only promised to pay 17 million yuan, drawing the discontent of many fishermen, who gathered today at the company's headquarters to protest; besides demanding that fishermen's rights be taken seriously and that compensation negotiations proceed as soon as possible, they also called on agricultural authorities to quickly review the exclusive fishery rights for the five districts of New Taipei City, so as to prevent T.S. Lines from using this to escape compensation liability.

This morning, the Jinshan Fishermen's Association led more than 300 fishermen to protest in front of T.S. Lines. The fishermen present pointed out bluntly that in the past two years they had "hardly been able to catch any fish," including snails and shellfish, small octopus and Agaricus subrufescens, which suffered severe crop losses due to oil pollution, while coastal catches and fishing volume continued to decline, leaving fishermen's livelihoods almost unsustainable. In addition, research the year before last by Cheng Hsueh-yuan, a professor in the Department of Environmental Biology and Fisheries Science at National Taiwan Ocean University, also found that the TS Taipei oil spill caused a 44% decrease in "larval and juvenile fish" (small fish) in the surrounding waters.