Lin Ailong / when the world is promoting sustainable seafood, Taiwan countries must enter │ to create Taiwan sustainable seafood stamp 01

Share + 1 Tweet Email

(Ailong Lin / tr. by Phil Newell) CEO of the Sea Dragon King Love Earth Association and PhD candidate at Pennsylvania State University.

The fog of the EU yellow card covering Taiwan's fishing industry has not dispersed for a long time; the production of important economic fish species along the offshore fishery continues to decline; the basic work of managing resources, "fish unloading declaration," has reached a low proportion, while illegal trawls emerge one after another. What is the lack of a vision for our marine fishery that makes us so depressed? The answer is simple: sustainable seafood needs an opportunity to give consumers action support, but Taiwan does not provide such an opportunity.

Promoting sustainable seafood can not only rely on brave pioneers, but also become a national policy.

When organic farming laws and organic commodities have brought new horizons to global agriculture and created a huge global economic market, "sustainable seafood" has never been absent. Since the efforts of Britain and the United States in 1996, Taiwan chain organic stores have now introduced products selling foreign sustainable seafood labels, but there has been no movement in Taiwan's fishing industry. only scholars from the Academia Sinica have issued educational publicity materials, as well as the "responsible Fisheries Index (Responsible Fisheryies Management,RFI)" tried by private operators "rising the ocean" with their own aquatic products.

However, organic labeling is not made by a farmer without spraying pesticides, and neither can sustainable seafood. Moreover, the characteristics of fishing vessels' common use of natural resources make the construction of sustainable seafood labels more in need of greater guidance and management of the government's public power. At present, there are no aquatic products in Taiwan through the internationally renowned MSC logo. After several years of in-depth research, the Sea Dragon King Love Earth Association of Taiwan decided to put forward a simple and feasible sustainable seafood label on World Ocean Day on June 8, 2018, named "fishing path ProFisher". It is hoped that Taiwan's fishery administration units and the fishing industry will have the courage to build their dreams, in order to enable consumers to one day be in ordinary supermarkets. Buy sustainable seafood with credibility in your own country and take the first step!

A brief introduction to the Sustainable Seafood Ecological Mark of "fishing path ProFisher"

Look around the world badges and standards

"Green consumption, choosing and buying environmental protection products" is an environmental protection life that everyone has been familiar with for nearly 30 years, but Taiwan, which calls itself a "ocean country," has not yet launched an ecological seal specializing in wild fishing seafood. However, FAO has already published the "guidelines for the Ecological Mark of Fish and Fishery products in Marine capture Fisheries" in 2004 for all walks of life.

According to FAO statistics, the creation of seafood ecological stamps can be divided into two categories: "national and regional government driven (National and Regional Government-Based Ecolabels)" and "non-governmental driven (Non-Government-Based Ecolabels)", such as Australia, Nordic and Japan.

The latter has the famous MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), which was established in London in 1996 to capture the global commercial market. In recent years, the fierce competition with MSC in the Asian market is the Friends of the Sea "Friend of the Sea", which is headquartered in Italy and established in 2006. Naturland, which is well-known for organic agriculture in Europe and centered on Germany, also stepped into the ocean in 2006 to launch "Naturland Wildfish".

The footprint of Japan

In 2007, Japan chose to go its own way. Under the guidance of the official color, the Marine Eco-Label Japan (MEL Japan) with preferential verification fees has been launched, adopting standards suitable for the national conditions of the Japanese fishery; over the past two years, in order to seize the food cakes for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and supply environmentally friendly seafood in line with the provisions of the International Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan has upgraded MEL Japan like a raging fire. Including in order to obtain the Global Sustainable Fish Initiative GSSI certification, the revision of the current MEL Japan assessment benchmark and the establishment of a three-year transitional period of 28 fisheries previously certified by ── MEL Japan, all must be reassessed. It's a huge project!

However, Japan's ambition has achieved something. In April 2017, the Tokyo Olympic Games have been agreed, in addition to MSC, ASC (aquaculture environmental certification), but also can supply MEL, AEL (Japanese aquaculture ecological logo) of aquatic products. Previously, only MSC and ASC were available at the London Olympics and Rio Olympics.

As for China, there was also a "iFISH" seafood label for the certification of Chinese fish products in 2016, with the China Fisheries Circulation and processing Association (a national first-tier trade association) and the "Zhiyu Research Center" as the core, strategically allied with environmental groups (such as the Alashan SEE Foundation, the largest local environmental organization, which sponsored Taiwan's Wilderness Conservation Association's three-year Marine debris Monitoring campaign in 2013), universities, etc.

When expounding the concept, this set of seafood labels led by Chinese institutions directly made it clear: "We learn but do not rigidly adhere to advanced Western ideas and technologies, but are more committed to respecting local national conditions and culture." create a comprehensive fishery management model and evaluation system that belongs to China, and build a Chinese voice in the field of sustainable fisheries. "

Looking back on the current situation of promotion in Taiwan

At present, there are only various sustainable seafood guides published by Academia Sinica, Marine Museum and non-governmental conservation groups to provide consumers with reference. The only thing that further links producers with biological resources assessment and has physical seafood to choose from is the "responsible Fisheries Index" initiated by rising Ocean.

Over the past five years, the Sea Dragon King Association has continued to send more than 100 "Deep Sea Canteen-Sustainable Seafood Cards" free of charge every month to teachers, students and people everywhere, but all for educational purposes. On the whole, the innovation of Taiwan's fishery industry and the expansion of the consumer market are far from enough. (but you are still welcome to continue to write to us for further requests.)

Embrace conservation and build a solid dream

According to the FAO guidelines, plans for marine ecological seals can be initiated by governments, intergovernmental organizations, NGO or industry associations. Judging from the environmental protection badge of Taiwan's Environmental Protection Agency and the experience of organic agriculture, to measure Taiwan's national conditions and momentum, the Sea Dragon King Association suggests that the government should actively lead the establishment. Because nowadays, all kinds of information and software tools of "Fisheries Management and Prevention of IUU" are in the computers of the Fisheries Department. Who should set up a stamp and give up the government?

There is no need for the government to hold back for fear of doing a bad job. There is no sign in the world that takes one step in place. MSC just changed its eighth edition in March 2018. However, it is not appropriate for the Government to "study and re-study". At present, some American supermarkets require that aquatic products exported from Taiwan to the United States must be certified as sustainable seafood, so Taitung's ghost knife fishing industry has begun to explore on its own. There is not much time for the Taiwan government to let go of inaction.

Therefore, we decided to brazenly learn from what we have thought and learned over the past decade, including deep research with marine scholars, contact with the public to do sustainable seafood promotion education (such as setting up stalls in road races, answer hundreds of questions), communicate and discuss with the Fisheries Department, attend many sea patrol discussions and public hearings on the management of the Fisheries Department, listen to the views of fishermen on the depletion of fishery resources, and the experience of dialogue with representatives of fishing associations and seeking consensus. Design the sustainable seafood ecological logo of "fishing trail".

Among them, the third major conservation goal, "effective management", is that the scores can be improved as long as the fisheries administration units make efforts with the boat owners and fishermen. It is believed that at this stage and in the next ten years, Taiwan can really help the fishery transform and grow. It can also give citizens who love the ocean a chance to act for the ocean at the dinner table.

Lin Ailong / when the world is promoting sustainable seafood, Taiwan countries must enter │ to create Taiwan sustainable seafood stamp 01

Lin Ailong / to promote the sustainable seafood label, what should the Fisheries Department do? │ creates Taiwan Sustainable Seafood Seal Series 02

How to design the scoring system of Lin Ailong / fishing way ProFisher sustainable seafood logo? │ creates Taiwan Seafood Seafood Mark 03

Share + 1 Tweet Email