Save the yellow card crisis! The Fisheries Department imposed a fine of 19 fishing vessels in four months, with a maximum fine of 12 million.

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Taiwan is certain that there is no hope of removing the offshore fishing yellow card in March this year. The Fisheries Department today (30) held a press conference chanting "crack down on illegal fishing and protect the rights and interests of legitimate operators." it pointed out that from January to the end of April this year, the Fisheries Department imposed a total fine of 43.82 million yuan on 19 illegal fishing vessels, of which the fine imposed by CT4-1920 on April 19 was as high as 12 million yuan.

The Director of Fisheries, Mr Wong Hung-yin, stressed: "it is of course important to remove the yellow card, but for the Fisheries Department, this is only a means." And once again said that Taiwan's offshore fishing industry is only the last mile away from withdrawing the photo. However, the withdrawal of the yellow card in March has broken the game, and the Fisheries Department's next step can only look forward to a breakthrough when the European Union sends its staff to visit again in September.

Director of Fisheries, Ms Wong Hung-yin (Photo / Lai Yuwei)

Fishing club: the fishing boat violates the rules clearly, so it should be punished.

The fishery administration units once again firmly stated that they would "crack down on illegal fishing and protect the rights and interests of legitimate operators". But standing at the local grass-roots fishing associations, how do they view the heavy punishment imposed by the central government?. Huang Zhaoqin, director-general of the Kaohsiung District Fisheries Association, believes that fishing vessels have a clear pattern of violations, so they should be punished, and the fishing association will not protect them.

The Donggang District fishing Association and the Kaohsiung District fishing Association are both port fishing associations where the registry of major illegal fishing vessels belongs to this announcement, and both stress the importance of "strengthening publicity."

Zheng Fu-shan, secretary of the Donggang District Fisheries Association in Pingtung County, points out that the general mentality of fishermen is that "as long as they do not smuggle, steal or rob, they should not be punished," and they are not willing to accept laws related to fisheries and go their own way. but now that the awareness of international environmental protection is on the rise, if Taiwan wants to be in line with international fisheries policies, it is bound to cooperate with international fisheries policies. "if you are not familiar with computer systems, you need to learn," and the fishing association will also step up publicity.

Huang Zhaoqin also said that many shipowners and shipowners work at sea all day and lack information on shore, so it is necessary to step up publicity in order to let shipowners know the seriousness of failure to comply with the laws and regulations.

Only when fishermen abide by the law can there be sustainable fishery.

Chen Jizhong, vice chairman of the Council of Agriculture, said that this year, 19 illegal fishing boats were fined more than NT $4300, "all of which were imposed on fishermen, but it was really very difficult." If there is no penalty, not only the yellow card may not be removed, but it may even change from "yellow" to "red", endangering the fishing industry along the coastal waters.

Chen said that once the offshore fishery is removed from the offshore fishing industry, there will be only "aquaculture fisheries" left in the domestic fishing industry, which will deal a heavy blow to the domestic fishing industry.Therefore, only by repeatedly appealing to illegal fishermen to abide by the law can the offshore fishing industry be sustainable. "this is a necessary, but necessary, approach."

"removing yellow cards" and "safeguarding sustainable fisheries" are still the primary objectives of the Fisheries Department. however, apart from strengthening law enforcement, the European Union also pointed out a few days ago that the management of domestic offshore fisheries needs to be strengthened.

In this regard, Wang Maocheng said that at present, only coral, net, and entertainment fishing vessels along the coast are forced to install VMS systems.At present, the Fisheries Department is working on the "measures for the Management of longline Operation of Coastal Tuna (provisional)." in the future, more than 1,000 domestic longline fishing vessels of tuna along the coast will be covered. If the implementation goes smoothly, the law is expected to be passed in the second half of this year and implemented by New Year's Day next year.

In response to the problem of transshipment of expedient fishing vessels repeatedly pointed out by the fishing circle, Huang Hongyan said that the "three laws on Ocean Fisheries" have already laid down "FOC regulations" for expedient vessels. As long as expedient vessels are caught in violation of the rules, the penalty will be the same as that of domestic fishing vessels. "even if the ship is not a domestic fishing vessel, the owner will be punished the same."

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