Taiwan's white belt fish is popular in China, and there are no restrictions on fishing. If the Fisheries Department announces direct shipping, will it have an impact on fishery resources?

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White hairtail is one of the important economic fish species caught along the coast of our country. The tender meat is loved by the Chinese people. In the past, it was mainly sold domestically. In recent years, China's demand for white hairtail has increased greatly. Taiwan has caught the Chinese white hairtail boom. The number of white hairtail caught along the offshore has increased sharply through the small three links. According to customs statistics, from 36 tons in 104 to 6525 tons in 106, it doubled again in 107, reaching 13,720 tons.

In response to the hot sale of white hairtail in China, the Fisheries Department announced yesterday that it would formulate the "Measures for the Management of Pilot Fishing Vessels Transporting White Hairtail along Offshore Areas," which would allow carriers to sail directly to China through designated fishing ports, greatly reducing transportation costs and shortening voyage. It is estimated that more white hairtail caught by Taiwan will be sold to China. However, how many white hairtail resources are there along the coast of China, and are they enough to support sustainable mass fishing? How much white hairtail does Taiwan consume each year, except for sales? The Fisheries Department admits that it does not have statistics and no landing declaration data for reference.

Cheng Ming-hsiu, a researcher at the Academia Sinica's Center for Biodiversity Research, says that there is very little literature on white hairtail in Taiwan, and nothing is known about the population size. The only thing we can be sure of is that white hairtail cannot be farmed, and once caught, it becomes smaller and smaller, it is a warning of overfishing. To avoid repeating the overfishing of mackerel and sea cucumber, it is necessary to ban fishing during the reproductive cycle of white hairtail, so as to ensure sustainable development of marine resources.

Photo Source/Xu Chengyu

Researcher: Taiwan has little research on white hairtail, if the body size becomes smaller, it is a warning

Zheng Mingxiu, a researcher at the Center for Biodiversity Research at the Academia Sinica, says that there is very little literature on white hairtail in Taiwan, and nothing is known about the population size, number, and growth position of white hairtail in its infancy. However, what can be confirmed is that white hairtail cannot be cultured because it moves differently from other fish.

Cheng Ming-hsiu suggests that once white hairtail is caught smaller and smaller, it is a warning sign of overfishing. In order to avoid repeating the overfishing of mackerel and sea cucumbers, a ban should be imposed on white hairtail during its reproductive cycle to ensure sustainable development of marine resources.

Fisheries Department: A catch database for white belt fish is needed before sustainable management can be discussed

Deputy Director of Fisheries, Ms Wong Ching-fong, responded that the "Pilot Measures on the Management of Fishing Vessels Transporting White Hairtail along Offshore Areas" aimed to save fishermen's transportation costs. Through the export of fishing associations, fish unloading declarations could be made, and a catch database could be effectively grasped and established, which would not have much impact on market price fluctuations.

As for the possibility of overfishing fishery resources, Wang Zhengfang said that there is no complete investigation literature on white hairtail in China, but there should be no shortage of resources for the time being. As for whether overfishing will be caused by white hairtail marketing, we will continue to observe the future. We will first conduct ecological research and investigation on white hairtail to confirm the living and breeding methods of white hairtail, and then draw up fishing strategies based on this information.

The proportion of fish unloading declaration is low. How to control resources?

According to statistics from the Fisheries Administration, at present the proportion of declared fishing trips along the coast is 28.7%. At present, only four kinds of fisheries, mackerel, coral and fly eggs, have calculated declaration rates. In the past, the white hairtail fishery was not specially managed by the government, so it was not only impossible to know the declaration of fishing trips along the coast, but it was also difficult to know the actual number of fishing trips.

In response to this, Wang Zhengfang responded that the current fish unloading declaration is paper operation, and the ship owner declares independently, but the paper operation is more complicated, at present is also under review, is planning to do electronic fish unloading declaration in the future, consideration options include APP development or port weighing with instrument records, the difficulty of electronic implementation lies in the total of 222 ports in Taiwan, 24 hours a day fishing boats in and out, so it is still evaluating how to facilitate fishermen in the way of implementation.