Committed to combating IUU Fishing, Taiwan is keen to ensure the legitimacy and traceability of fisheries products. Various ministries team up to enhance the management through the four improvement measures.
1. Legislation: the Act for Distant Water Fisheries was enacted, and the Act to Govern Investment in the Operation of Foreign Flag Fishing Vessels and the Fisheries Act were amended. In addition, under the authorization of the legislation, 15 implementing regulations and 5 notices were drawn up, and came into force together with the 3 fisheries acts effective on January 20th, 2017. The legal basis governing Taiwan’s distant water fisheries is thus reinforced.
2. Monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS): series of actions were taken to strengthen the management scheme as follows:
(1) all distant water fishing vessels are installed with the electronic logbook (e-logbook) system,
(2) a Fisheries Monitoring Center (FMC) that runs 24/7 is established to grasp the movement of Taiwan’s distant water fishing fleets,
(3) a landing declaration scheme is implemented,
(4) 32 foreign ports are designated where Taiwanese distant water fishing vessels are allowed to land or transship only at those ports,
(5) more fisheries inspectors are recruited to reinforce inspection capacity,
(6) Port State measures are implemented on foreign vessels that enter Taiwan, and
(7) more observers are hired to raise the coverage and meet the international standard.
3. Traceability: Strategy Plan for Auditing Industry Related to Distant Water Fisheries was drafted and implemented, whereby auditing and guiding exporters to ensure the fisheries products purchased are not involved in IUU fishing.
4. International cooperation: cooperation arrangements with 22 countries with high relevance with Taiwan in terms of fisheries were concluded. Taiwan’s reputation in the international society is enhanced by improving the compliance record within the regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs).
Furthermore, to completely execute the abovementioned measures, the Executive Yuan set up a Cross-Ministerial Task Force on Combating IUU Fishing, to integrate and coordinate the capacities of relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Council of Ocean Affairs, Ministry of Labor, and Ministry of Agriculture. With the establishment of such a Task Force, Taiwan’s National Plan of Control and Inspection for Fisheries (NPCI) is carried out smoothly on all fronts throughout the supply chain, ranging from vessel safety, enforcement at sea, hygiene inspection, control of import and export, and deterrence of IUU fishing.
