Director of Fisheries Huang Hongyan's exclusive interview: "Taiwan's fishing industry is in an unprecedented crisis. How to break through from ocean-going, offshore to aquaculture?"

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The new Director of Fisheries, Huang Hongyan, officially took office on the 16th of last month and immediately faced a number of fisheries challenges. first of all, she faced a major crisis in the offshore fishing industry, and she was sentenced by the European Union to "stay on probation" for more than a year. In addition, the offshore fishery industry faces the tension between resource control and the livelihood of fishermen due to the lack of implementation of the discharge declaration and the substantial reduction of fishery resources. The challenges of the aquaculture fishery are also very serious. From the "inability to raise clam shellfish" to the poor regulation of farmed fish species, there is a sudden drop in prices, quality control, and so on, which are testing the ability and determination of the new director.

Seeing Huang Hung-Yan, who has a professional background in ocean fishing, take over the AFD, the group also hopes that the new AFD team will "bring ocean-going international conservation and management experience to the nearby waters and have a positive impact." After all, offshore fishing is related to the families of hundreds of thousands of fishermen, and we hope to invest more energy to restore the coastal fishery resources. As the head of fishery resources of a maritime country, how will he lead Taiwan's fishing industry forward? Huang Hongyan accepted an exclusive interview with "upstream and downstream" to explain the policy direction after taking office. The following is fully presented in the form of questions and answers.

Dead Meretrix Meretrix by the Chiku Culture Pond in Tainan (Photo _ Lai Yuwei)

(the following is supplemented by the Culture and Fisheries Section of the Fisheries Department)

As an administrative unit, the Fisheries Department aims to provide a good and basic production environment for the industry. now that there are 37 aquaculture and fishery production areas and six fish ponds concentration areas, we will build a clean drainage system and improve the clean drainage waterway. to lay the basic conditions of the environment.

In terms of industrial guidance, policy guidance can be directed towards friendly aquaculture, and early operators pursue to increase the quantity and release high-density fish fry, but later, after research, reducing the amount of seedling release is helpful to production, so we will guide and change the production management. through the industry groups, experts and scholars to give a presentation.

As for the issue of gene narrowing, some industry groups have also mentioned earlier that some new varieties can be tried. Through the administrative subsidy scheme, operators can be allowed to do introduction and trial breeding. This is also a demonstration plan, and if feasible, it will be promoted through education and promotion to aquaculture operators.

Q: apart from the problems of breeding and production, the problem of "price collapse" has also occurred frequently in the aquaculture fishery. How can the Fisheries Department stabilize the market situation of the aquaculture fishery?.

Yes, let's take the Taiwan sea bream as an example, with an annual production of about 70,000 metric tons. Later review showed that the export of Taiwan sea bream is "incidental", mainly to supply the domestic market. In that strategy, on the one hand, we urge fishermen not to raise so many fishermen, hoping to reduce the production of coastal Taiwan sea bream from 70,000 to 50,000. It is not up to me. We have also held many meetings with industrial groups, hoping to slowly convey this message to fishermen. Tell the fishermen "how much you can only raise".

Encourage them not to raise so much, you can raise something else when you have more, but what do you want to raise? We need to give him advice. For farmed species, the government should cooperate with the Water Test Institute to help diversify the species. For example, Yong'an in Kaohsiung now has a demonstration area for LNG cold water aquaculture, so we can try it. If we can successfully raise cold water fish in the future, we can recommend them to fishermen because these things have to be gradually dispersed and diversified.

Individual farmers have to be responsible for themselves. We have a stocking quantity declaration system, and we will also check the report. I think there is no need to worry. These fishermen also know very well what kind of fish to raise and whether they will make money. As long as they are told the right method and how to do it, I think fishermen will also cooperate. It is difficult to control the seedlings, and the producer is more important. You tell him that this is his responsibility, to be responsible for himself, and to give him the correct concept and method.

Even we are wondering whether we should not raise so much on land in the future. We have some sites that are not suitable for farming, and we should slowly persuade them not to raise them. Now the Government encourages the planting of electricity. Is that a place where these strata are sunken and unsuitable for farming? in the future, we will also encourage him to grow electricity, not to raise it for the sake of raising it, and the strata will sink again, and everyone will raise it for nothing, which is just in line with the national policy.

We are studying to see if we can learn from the model of raising salmon and high-priced fish abroad, and raise some economic species with high unit price in the open sea. In the past, we had a farm in Penghu, but the area was so small that we could raise it more offshore, and we might start to make a transformation on land.

Q: you are the head of fishery resources in marine countries. how will you lead Taiwan's fishing industry forward?

Now the yellow card problem must be the first priority. After the yellow card is removed, it will mean that the offshore fishing industry is on track. Next, we should focus on "offshore fishing". But after all, offshore is not a familiar business in the past, see if I will be more familiar with it after a year, and have more ideas. Although we do not know how long the term of office will last, we still hope to establish the system.

In the future, "sustainable fishery" is absolutely the key point, but how to achieve the word "sustainable fishery"? We have to rely on "scientific research" as a reference for administration. Basic data research cannot be completed overnight and needs to be accumulated over a long period of time. Only when the basic work is slowly implemented can we have the opportunity to formulate the correct policy direction and lead Taiwan's fishing industry step by step towards sustainability.

Conservation of fishery resources is the model fisherman │ Taiwan's sixth largest high seas fishing country in the world. How can it be friendly to the ocean?.

Xu Chengyi / how can the aquaculture kingdom rise again after ten years of loss? The sustainable road of aquaculture fishery in Taiwan

There is nothing to be done about the sudden death of clams. │ feeding method? Water quality? Is there something wrong with the genes of female shellfish? AFD: experts try to raise to find answers

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