Fishing Excerpts and Links

Fishing boats in Houbihu harbor

The EU threatens Taiwan with sanctions for overfishing:

The European Union is threatening to take trade action against Taiwan and the Comoros if they do not contain within six months illegal and unregulated fishing, which is a major contributor to the depletion of key commercial stocks

which reminded me that I wanted to post on this. This journal article on Taiwan fishing boats and safety observes that overfishing has increased the risk to Taiwanese fishing boats...:

According to Taiwanese fisheries regulations, the captain and the chief engineer must be of Taiwanese nationality for fishing boats below 100 tons. Boats over 100 tons require another Taiwanese chief mate. With the recent increases in oil prices and the stagnant fish prices, most fishermen hire foreign workers to cut down costs. Taiwanese fishing boats are now manned by one Taiwanese captain and all-foreign crews.

....

On the other hand, over-fishing has caused the degradation of marine resources, so Taiwanese fishing boats must travel far from traditional fishing areas to catch fish, even in facing the increased vessel risk. The lack of willing Taiwanese crewmen introduces risk to the Taiwanese fishing industry as a whole. Since the youngest do not like to work in the fishing industry, the captain is forced to employ foreign crewmen with the introducing tensions.

In Taiwan, the majority of fishing boat captains and crewmen inherit their father's work and are not well-educated. The quality of crewmen is irregular. Therefore, the leadership and experience of the captain are often insufficient.

Fishing factoid (source):

"Tuna flesh turns brown and unappetizing for sashimi unless it is treated very carefully. Normal freezing temperatures are not suitable, but if tunas are frozen at -60C they can be frozen for months or years at sashimi-grade quality."

Years? That same chapter says that Taiwanese fishing boats operate in the Atlantic to poach tuna, which they then say was caught in the Pacific. They defended this practice with the usual "everyone does it" but interestingly, when Japan accused Taiwan in 2004 of laundering tuna in this way, the government in Taiwan didn't do anything because of the importance of the port of Kaohsiung in southern electoral politics.

Readers with much experience in the political economy of agriculture will recognize this problem described in this paper on Subsidies to Tuna Fishing:

Tuna fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean are among the most valuable resources in the region. These fisheries, worth an estimated $4.1 billion each year, play a pivotal role in supporting incomes and development goals in the region. However, due to the twin, and potentially inter-related effects of harmful fishing practices such as the use of fish aggregating devices, overcapacity, and fisheries subsidies, many of these tuna fisheries are currently at risk of over-exploitation—putting the livelihoods of countless local fishers at risk. This study finds that government fisheries subsidies in the region represent 37% of the ex-vessel value of tuna fisheries in the region. Fuel subsidies are estimated at US$ 335 million and non-fuel subsidies are estimated at US$ 1.2 billion for the year 2009. Developed countries are responsible for more than half of the subsidies spent in the predominantly developing region, underlying the fact that the majority of tuna value extracted from the national waters of developing countries in the region benefit larger, developed countries. The total resource rent, or return to society, from tuna fisheries, once adjusted for subsidies is a net negative US$750 million in 2009. Fisheries subsidies are enabling foreign fleets to operate at sub-market rates, putting local fleets out of competition for their own fishery resources.

This paper, which proposes closing the high seas to all fishing, notes that the big losers economically would be South Korea, Japan, and of course, Taiwan.

Old posts: Greenpeace occupy action on Taiwanese boat overfishing, background on Phils killing of Taiwanese boat captain mess.
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Daily Links:

• DON'T MISS: Solidarity Translation of Latest TISR Poll which has Tsai up as usual.
• Eur Assoc of Taiwan studies reminds everyone that abstract submission deadlines for 2016 are coming up: Oct 15 for normal panels, MA panel = Nov 15. Details/links below the read more line...
• The Hill on Angst about Taiwan and visit of Xi to Washington
• Bill Sharp with an unusually good, rich commentary on the Taiwan Election
• Another commentary on the RAND report on China military and who would win a US-China spat
• Annual Cycling Festival begins Oct 30
• US might sell arms to Taiwan at the end of this year
• Beef and pork imports from US complicating trade issues. Each side so obsessed with political clout of meat farmers that no one is keeping their eye on the strategic ball.
• Taiwan Today on museum exhibitions on Taiwan history
• Economy to take beating according to several indicators. Don't expect more than 1% growth.

Dear EATS members and friends,

we would like to remind everyone that the 2016 EATS conference abstract submission deadline is approaching soon:
Normal Panel 15 October 2015
MA Panel 15 November 2015.
Please follow this link to see details and make a submission: http://eats-taiwan.eu/

Also, there are exciting updates on EATS website, including:
The funding opportunities offered by Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the UK funding councils: http://eats-taiwan.eu/
Details of the books launched at the 2015 EATS conference: http://eats-taiwan.eu/conference/eats-2015/book-launch/
We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a good start of the new Academic Year.

Warm wishes,

EATS Board


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