Fishing deal signed with Japan: COA

The Fisheries Administration said in a press release issued Friday that Japan has informed the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention (WCPFC) that it will exchange on-board inspections with Taiwan on fishing boats in the convention's waters from Dec. 25.

In addition, the administration said, New Zealand, the Cook Islands and the United States will also make similar agreements with Taiwan to conduct inspections on each others' fishing vessels in the high seas.

Citing WCPFC resolution 06-08, the administration said, Taiwanese tuna longlining fishing ships operating in the Western or Central Pacific must abide by the practice when required by qualified personnel from any of these convention countries or territories.

To fall in line with the on-board inspection measures aimed at better protecting tuna fish stocks in these waters, Taiwanese fishing boats must have their operating licenses and fish catch reports on hand, and swiftly report the inspections to Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration and fisheries radio stations that will be responsible for reporting the inspections to the Fisheries Administration, according to the statement.

To record their operations in detail, fishing boats must equip a vessel monitoring system (VMS) on board so as to determine the vessel's location in commercial fishing areas at any given time, and periodically send this information, usually by satellite, to a monitoring station ashore.

The measure also bans fishing ships from catching sharks, and it requires them to install relevant devices so as to prevent the catch of sea birds or sea turtles accidentally, it said.

Any fishing vessel will be listed as “illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU)” and will face punishments that could include a revocation of its license, if it fails to cooperate in inspections with the on-board regulatory personnel or is found to have violated the convention's regulations, the Fisheries Administration stressed.

The annual fish catch in the Western and Central Pacific region totals 2.5 million metric tons, while the yield from illegal activities is estimated at around 850,000 metric tons a year.

The value of fishery production in the region amounts to US$2 billion a year, but the island countries that issue fishing licenses earn no more than 6 percent of the profits, Greenpeace statistics showed.

The Western and Central Pacific ocean is now the source of more than half of the world's tuna catch after tuna stocks in other oceans had been exploited.

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