Fishing Boat Follies

From time to time interesting articles pop up in the world press about Taiwanese Out There. Here's one about Taiwanese fishing boats in the Falklands breaking the rules in the Falklands. Who could imagine Taiwanese ignoring bureaucratic regulations?:

All vessels licensed to fish in Falkland waters have, as part of their licence requirements to provide adequate means by which Fisheries Department officers may board to make inspections. An accident earlier this year, due to an inadequate ladder having led to a Fisheries Officer falling into the sea while attempting to board a vessel for inspection, had demonstrated the importance of compliance with this requirement.

During a routine inspection of the Ming Man on 11th May, Fisheries Department officers had discovered that the licence conditions relating to the pilot ladder had not been complied with.

The Court was informed that further inspection of the vessel in Port Stanley had also led to suspicions that catch reports filed between 9th March and 12th May had been inaccurate. Inspection of the ship’s hold by three officers of the Fisheries Department confirmed these suspicions.

214 tonnes of squid had been reported in the catch records, but estimates of the actual amount made respectively by the captain of the vessel and its local agents, Fortuna Ltd. after the inspection, varied between 420 and 469 tonnes.

The Court was informed that the estimated market value of the discrepancy between the reported and actual catches was between $US 224.000 and $US 254.000.

[Taiwan]