Pirates Put Taiwan Fishing Fleet in Mothballs

A New Zealand paper reports that Taiwan's fishing boats are idle due to Somali pirates:

Sixty-six of 141 vessels equipped to fish bigeye tuna "have ceased their operations due to the escalating situation," noted a document submitted by Taiwan to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (ICCAT).

"The escalation of piracy ... has severely undermined the livelihood of the fishermen concerned and affected the legitimate operation of the industry," it said.

Since 2009, three Taiwan-flagged vessels and their crews have been hijacked by pirates from Somalia.

One, the Wen Fa No 161, was detained for more than 10 months and was released in February 2010 "only after paying a huge ransom," the document said.

Two other vessels, the Jih Chun Tsai No. 68 and the Tai Yuan No. 227, along with their crews, "are still held by pirates," it said.

To compensate for the lost business, Taiwan is seeking permission to "transfer" 15 of the mothballed fishing vessels from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic.

The transfer would only take effect for 2010 and 2011. Back in March the US proposed a ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna fishing -- the animal is on the brink of extinction -- but the Japanese led a successful UN rejection of such a policy. The devastation of the Bluefin Tuna is laid out in numbers here. It is apparent that they are going to be fished into extinction.
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