net loss-how taiwan subsidizes tuna depletion
DESCRIPTION
Taiwan is the largest distant water fishing power in the Western and Central Pacific, where 60% of the world’s tuna come from. However tuna populations in the region are facing an overfishing crisis. Among the four species of tuna fished in the area, three species are already on the redlist of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Taiwan’s distant water fishing relies heavily on fish resources in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO), resulting in high gasoline costs. Thus Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry faces some huge challenges ahead: the depletion of resources and fish, as well as high oil prices internationally. In order to resolve this, the Fisheries Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan (行政院農業委員會漁業署) has spent taxpayers' money to subsidize the rising costs, in turn contributing to overfishing. Greenpeace analyzed the budget of the distant water fishing industry from the Fisheries Agency.TRANSCRIPT
Net Loss:
How Taiwan
Subsidizes
Tuna Depletion
www.greenpeace.org.tw
Executive Summary
Report
1. Taiwan is paying for the distant water fishing industry with resource depletion
2. The budget set to subsidize the distant water fishing industry from the Fisheries Agency is benefiting only 5% of the total population involved n the fishing industry.
3. 75% of the budget set by the Fisheries Agency is used for increasing output value
4. Conclusion and Suggestions
Methodology
Reference
Contents +
Without healthy marine resources, distant water fisheries will not thrive, regardless of the amount of subsidies or the size of the budget. 27/06/2006 © Greenpeace / Gavin Newman
Contents + Taiwan is the largest distant water fishing power in the Western and Central Pacific, where 60% of the world’s tuna come from. However tuna populations in the region are facing an overfishing crisis. Among the four species of tuna fished in the area, three species are already on the redlist of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Taiwan’s distant water fishing relies heavily on fish resources in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO), resulting in high gasoline costs. Thus Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry faces some huge challenges ahead: the depletion of resources and fish, as well as high oil prices internationally. In order to resolve this, the Fisheries Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan (行政院農業委員會漁業署) has spent taxpayers' money to subsidize the rising costs, in turn contributing to overfishing. Greenpeace analyzed the budget of the distant water fishing industry from the Fisheries Agency. From 2002 until now and has discovered:
Executive Summary
1、
2、
3、
4、
Taiwan accounts for 30% of fishing vessels in the Western and Central Pacific, where the marine resources are in serious crisis. 13/06/2011 © Greenpeace / Paul Hilton
The Fisheries Agency neglects the reality of resource depletion. It continues to use taxpayers’ money to subsidize the distant water fishing industry, which makes it an accomplice in the destruction of tuna resources.
The Fisheries Agency had spent TWD 16 billion (over 382 million euro)on the distant water fishing industry in the period 2002 to 2010. Of the total, about 75% was used to increase the capacity of the fleet, including subsidization of gasoline for vessels and vessels buy-back programs. The Fisheries Agency has yet to control the number of new fishing vessels, even though Taiwan is facing international pressure to reduce fishing capacity. All these lead to the increase of total tonnage of Taiwanese vessels in WCPO. Only less than 3% of the total budget was used to research and explore “possibly effective resources management”.
There are about 18,000 people, which accounts for 5% of Taiwan’s population, involved in the distant water fishing industry. The majority of them are managers, not front line fishermen.
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) contribution of the distant water fishing industry accounted for an annual 0.25% during the period of 2002 to 2009, which is about TWD 30 billion (over 717 million euro). Distant water fishing industry contributed 46% productive value for the whole fishing industry in Taiwan.
01Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion
02
The Fisheries Agency must deal with the issue of resources depletion when it sets the budget. With regard to the 75% of the budget spent on enhancing the output of the distant water fishing industry, we demand the Fisheries Agency evaluate whether the money poured into each item is being used wisely. The agency should consider sustainable development, both conceptually and practically.
In participating in international policy negotiations (such as Regional Fisheries Management Organizations, or RFMOs), the Fisheries Agency should proactively investigate and support global marine reserve proposals, in order to better fulfill its responsibility to protect the entire marine ecosystem. Its fisheries policies should be based on the precautionary principle. In regards to Taiwan’s largest fishing ground the Western and Central Pacific, we demand the Fisheries Agency support for the following measures at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission :
● Reducing 50% of tuna fishing effort in the Western and Central Pacific.
● Closing the Pacific Commons, four high seas pockets in between national waters of Pacific Island Nations, for the restoration of tuna populations, the future of the Pacific Ocean and to halt illegal fishing and destructive overfishing.
● Banning the use of artificial fish aggregating devices (FADs) in purse seine fisheries.
Greenpeace recommendations:
1、
2、
Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion
Three out of four tuna species in the Western and Central Pacific are red-listed by IUCN. The picture shows a pile of yellow-fin tuna, which has been red-listed since July, 2011. 25/09/2006 © Greenpeace / Alex Hofford
02
● The Fisheries Agency (Survey of the distant water fishing industry operators 2009) 5:
The international crude oil price has risen rapidly in the last 2 years, which has led to high operating costs for the vessels. Consequently, the (distant water) fishing industry had recorded net losses in recent years. In addition to that, pressure from international organizations calling for the protection of fish resources has led to rising costs in fishing operations.
Distant Water tuna resource depletion and rising crude oil prices are rec-ognized by both the industry and the government
● The Fisheries Agency (Management and restructuring of the distant water fishing industry)6:
Due to rising international crude oil prices and the difficulty in raising market fish prices, Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry is facing a difficult operational environment with high costs.
● Council of Agriculture, the Executive Yuan (Agricultural policy and situations)7:
Gasoline for tuna vessels accounts for up to 40.7% of the total costs. For the squid fishing vessels, gasoline is 53% or more of the total costs. Gasoline is an important expense for the overall costs. However, in the context of international free trade, the market price for fish has had little space to grow. With shrinking resources and large catch capacities under high-cost operations, salaries of front line fishermen have experienced limited growth.
● People involved in the distant water fishing industry8:
In the context of high gasoline price and depleted resources, the distant water fishing industry is an aging industry. It’s time to reform.
Taiwan is the largest distant water fishing operator in the Western and Central Pacific, which provides 60%1 of the world’s tuna with 1,953 vessels currently registered under Taiwan’s flag2, accounting for 30% of total distant water fishing vessels in the region. But this region, a major Taiwanese fishing ground, is now experiencing a serious tuna crisis .3According to the redlist of endangered species published by IUCN4, the most important tuna species in the Western and Central Pacific such as the big-eye tuna, yellow-fin tuna and albacore are now listed as vulnerable and near threatened Across the world, 5 out of 8 tuna species, such as the Southern Bluefin tuna and Atlantic Bluefin tuna, are on the redlist. Despite this precarious situation, the large fleet of Taiwanese vessels still employ high-tech and industrial methods to fish in the Western and Central Pacific, where total catches (of all nationalities)reached a peak of 2.46 million tons in 2009. Why are the Taiwanese vessels leading the plunder of the Pacific tuna to oblivion and how exactly can they afford to do this despite declining resources?
As tuna becomes more scarce, the operating costs of the fishing fleets increase. For example vessel operators have to spend more on gasoline, which accounts for 40% of total costs, in order to remain in operation in the Western and Central Pacific regions.
Taiwan is paying for the distant water fishing industry with resource depletion
1.
03Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion
According to one estimate, only 5%9 of the fishing population is involved in the distant water fishing industry. Among the front line fishermen, the number of immigrant fisherman is 5 to 6 times higher than the number of Taiwanese fishermen10. For those Taiwanese nationals who are currently in the distant water fishing industry, many are owners of vessels or involved in the running of corporations but not front line fishermen. In other words, the money handed out by the government is not directly going into the pockets of the fishermen.
According to the annual reports of the Fisheries Agency in 200911, “the distant water fishing industry is managed and invested by corporations.” In the same year, a survey of the distant water fishing industry mentioned, “the traditional tuna long-line fishery in the Pacific recorded operational costs of TWD 40 million per year, while frozen long-line fishery has an annual operational cost of TWD 60 million (954 000 euro). For the skipjack tuna purse-seine fishery, the total yearly operational cost is close to TWD 100 million (over 2 300 000 euro).”
A distant water fishing operator also said, “The development of distant water fisheries requires large, modern vessels. In order to build a new vessel, the investment would be TWD 300 million, 500 million or above. For instance, a new 700-ton vessel costs TWD 200 million. The basic operational expenses for such a vessel is TWD 40 million or above. Thirteen vessels plus another two reefers will mean total assets up to TWD 3 billion12.”
In addition, a fishing corporation official commented that, “the most expensive American made frozen purse-seine costs TWD 500 million13.”
When the Fisheries Agency said that it tried to allocate resources to protect the rights of fishermen and support the distant water fishing industry, it is in fact handing out money to big, wealthy corporations. Meanwhile, the distant water fishing industry is only contributing 0.25% of Taiwan’s annual GDP14 since 2002, though its productive value accounts for 46%15 of the overall fishing industry.
The budget set to subsidize the distant water fishing industry from the Fisheries Agency is benefiting only 5% of the total population involved in the fishing industry.
2.
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) contribution of the distant water fishing industry accounted for 0.25% of the budget in the period 2002 to 2009, which is about TWD 30 billion. The output value of the industry was 46% for the whole fishing industry in Taiwan.
04Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion
04
Greenpeace analyzed 11 budget items from the Fisheries Agency in the period of 2002 to 2010 and organized them in three categories: “possibly effective resource management”,16“increasing distant water fishing capacity” and “unclear assistance for resource management” . We discovered that in the total budget of TWD 11.6 billion, around 75% of funds were used to increase fishing while less than 3% of the budget was used in developing sustainable resource management.
3.
Graphic 2: Budget structure of the distant water fishing industry from 2002 to 2010 by the Fisheries Agency 17
● Possibly effective resource management:
Since 2002, there were about TWD 80 million add euros!! being used in this segment, which was about 2.42% of the total budget. Money was used in collecting catch information, conducting scientific researches about fish species and mixed breeds according to the demands of international fisheries commissions, and inviting scholars for bilateral scientific conferences and seminars.
● Increasing distant water fishing capacity:
Since 2002, an expenditure of TWD 8.6 billion (add euros) was used in this segment, which was about 74.39% of the total budget. Money was used in subsidizing gasoline costs, rewarding programs, encouraging Taiwanese people to work in the vessels, subsidizing the industry during moratorium, scrapping vessels and passing on the costs of the distant water fishing industry to taxpayers.
● Unclear assistance for resource management:
Since 2002, there were about TWD 2.7 billion (Add Euros) spending in this segment, which was about 23.19% of the total budget. Money was used in the observer system, patrolling management and industry management. However the illegal practices in the distant water by Taiwanese vessels were not under control and the Fisheries Agency mainly planned the industry development as affairs coordination and planning.
8,692,985,30474.39 %
75% of the budget set by the Fisheries Agency is used for increasing output value.
282,992,5002.42 %
8,692,985,30474.39 %
2,709,959,00023.19 %
05Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion
Graphic 3: Budget breakdowns of the distant water fishing industry
(Unit: TWD) Subsidization for gasoline
3.1 Possibly effective resource managementThis money was used to collect catch information, conducting scientific research about fish species in response to the demands of international fisheries commissions, as well as to invite scholars to scientific conferences and seminars. However, research results were not published on the website of the Fisheries Agency and there are no signs to show that the Fisheries Agency would use the research results to proactively develop sustainable policies for the fishing industry.
3.2 Increasing capacity for distant water fishing in-dustry: Subsidizing the costs of the industry which should be shouldered by the industry. The saved costs helped boost the profits of the operators and expand their catch capacities.
● In the period of 2002 to 2010, the Fisheries Agency spent TWD 4 billion in subsidizing the industry’s gasoline costs.
● Putting aside gasoline subsidies, the Fisheries Agency had handed out TWD 300 million to the industry.
● Without in-depth considerations of sustainable development, the government recklessly encouraged people to work on distant water vessels. This caused the dilemma of workers having been trained but without fish to catch.
● The Fisheries Agency is not yet able to solve the problems of the over development and the excess of catch capacity of its fishing industry.
● Taiwan’s total catch capacity in the Western and Central Pacific has increased for the past few years, even though the government tried to scrap vessels and launch buy-back programs.
The Fisheries Agency started to subsidize the gasoline costs of the distant water fishing industry in 2002 by allowing tariff-free gasoline purchases and a gasoline price 40 to 50% lower for the distant water fishing industry. The agency even set up a group to implementing subsidies. However, the skyrocketing international crude oil price also lead to even further subsidies. Compared with the subsidization of TWD 180 million in 2003, the monetary hand-out for gasoline increased to TWD 650 million in 2010 .
06Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion
06
Subsidization for gasoline:
The Fisheries Agency started to subsidize the gasoline costs of the distant water fishing industry in 2002 by allowing tariff-free gasoline purchases and a gasoline price 40 to 50% lower for the distant water fishing industry. The agency even set up a group to implementing subsidies. However, the skyrocketing international crude oil price also lead to even further subsidies. Compared with the subsidization of TWD 180 million in 2003, the monetary hand-
out for gasoline increased to TWD 650 million in 2010 18 .
Vessels scrapped and buy-back programs:
The Fisheries Agency had never set policies to reduce Taiwanese vessels, until in 2005, it started to eliminate small and medium vessels because the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) imposed sanctions on Taiwan for its large scale illegal fishing activities. By comparing the vessel information of the Western and Central Pacific, Greenpeace discovered that the vessel reductions of Taiwan in recent years cannot attain the goals of the marine reserve, and also increases the catch capacity and agency subsidies.
The Fisheries Agency responded to the demand from ICCAT by reducing 160 large long-line tuna vessels and 23 large big-eye tuna vessels in the period of 2005 to 2008. In the years 2007 and 2008, the number of Taiwanese long-line vessels and trawlers were also reduced. Altogether, there were 338 vessels reduced from 2005 to 2008 for a buy-back cost of TWD
3.8 billion19
Graphic 4: Distant water fishing vessels reductions through the ves-sel scrapped and buy-back programs from 2005 to 2008
Year
2005
2006
2007
2008
Types
100 tons or above long-line vessels
100 tons or above long-line vessels
100 tons or above long-line vessels
100 tons or above trawler
20-100 tons long-line vessels
100 tons or above long-line vessels
100 tons or above trawler
100 tons or below trawler
20 to 100 tons long-line vessels
20 tons or below long-line vessels
Others
Total
Number
59
101
23
57
5
32
7
13
1
25
15
338
Total tons
26,465
60,755
15,042
9,890
199
14,820
2,041
373
47
263
274
130,169
Total acquisition cost (TWD)
793,950,000
1,822,650,000
451,260,000
314,820,000
9,710,000
325,084,000
52,558,000
17,954,000
2,230,000
15,800,000
13,970,000
3,819,986,000
Greenpeace compared information from the Fisheries Agency and the information handed in by the Fisheries Agency to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission from
2001 to 201120 . We discovered in that period there were 606 vessels eliminated, but another 466 vessels added with capacities of an extra 8,000 net tons. Considering this, we question how effective the policies of the Fisheries Agency have been. The Agency tries to reduce the number of vessels on the books but in fact capital given to the industry allows them to enhance their fishing capacity. The Fisheries Agency must explain why it says it is reducing fishing effort when in fact it is increasing it.
07Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion
Developing the distant water fishing industry:
Expenses for all the fish resource analyses, trainings for staff on the vessels, vessels operations and management, as well as conferences and seminars totaled TWD 400 million since 2002.
Enhancing the distant water fishing capacity:
Besides subsidizing gasoline costs, the Fisheries Agency also gave an extra TWD 300 million
in rewards to the industry in 2009 and 201021 due to the industry being hit by the global economic crisis, high crude oil prices and the stricter monitoring of overfishing activities, which led to lower catch numbers. By referencing other countries’ policy, the Fisheries Agency implemented reward measures to increase the competitive edge of the industry. But before the Fisheries Agency continues this kind of reward system, it should consider whether the other countries' practices could be directly applied in Taiwan. The Fisheries Agency must evaluating the current fish resources and reasonable fishing capacity before it blindly follows what others do and subsidizes the industry at large.
Subsidization during moratorium:
he concept of a moratorium originally was created to assist the industry in maintaining a set fishing capacity. However, the Fisheries Agency missed the main point: to create a sustainable framework for the industry. However, the Fisheries Agency then, began directly pouring money into vessels during the moratorium. Since 2006, a total of 154 vessels stopped fishing. But after that, they did not stop their overfishing practices in oceans with resource scarcity.
Rewarding Taiwanese to work in distant water vessels:
In order to encourage the Taiwanese to work in the distant water vessels, the Fisheries Agency subsidizes another TWD 20,000 per worker on top of the basic salary for operators of TWD 17,280 per month, which is the so-called "salary" of immigrant workers. The aim of the Fisheries Agency is to train up seaman cadres (or crew?) for the fishing industry in the long run. However, without substantial considerations given to a sustainable and steady supply of fish resources in the oceans, the result of such a policy should be called into question, as the core seaman cadres are placed in the dilemma of having well-trained skills in an unsustainable industry suffering from resource depletion and thus an uncertain future.
Graphic 5: Comparison of scrapped vessels and newly-built vessels in the Central and Western Pacific from 2001 to 2011
Types
Other small vessels
100 tons or below long-line vessels
100 tons or above long-line vessels
Tuna purse-seine vessels
Vessels reduced or scrapped
Total new vessels built
Net Increase
Number
492
12
99
3
606
466
-140
Tonnage
3,751
673
32,845
3,079
40,348
48,261
7,913
08Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion
08
The Observer System:
The number and role of the observer is too limited. According to investigations, observers will usually have disagreements with the operators about by-catch when filling out records such as catch quantities. About 40% of the observers come to a compromise with the operators in order to reduce conflicts, so the true figures are not reflected in these records22
The Patrolling System:
The Patrolling vessels – Patrol vessel No.1, Patrol vessel No.2 and Patrol vessel No.3 – will share their patrolling times and locations23 on the website before they start their missions and give distant water fishing vessels advanced notice. However, the Fisheries Agency did not disclose the results nor the details of the work of its three patrolling vessels on its website or in annual reports.
The management of the distant water fishing industry:
In figures shown in the Fisheries Agency’s 2010 and 2011 budgets, most of the money is used for subsidies, including subsidizing related internal and external organizations, international fishing industry planning, coordination of external affairs, adding facilities for the fishing industry, enhancing internal and external bases for the fishing industry, donations to some fishing industry foundations and financially assisting multi-lateral discussions among the fishermen. The whole budget was not set with an aim of sustainable resource management, but rather was decided in the context of affair coordination and internal cooperative planning.
3.3 Unclear assistance for resource managementThis refers to the observer and patrolling systems having limited scope and effect. Also, the budget set for the distant water fishing industry is basically put under the categories of affairs coordination and cooperative planning. These are ineffective in showing the result of resource management.
Offloading fish catch from a frozen fish tank 13/06/2011 © Greenpeace / Paul Hilton
09Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion
In the context of shrinking tuna resources and the skyrocketing gasoline price, the Fisheries Agency has distorted the real competitive edge of Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry for the past 9 years. The 75% subsidies for operational costs, increasing output capacity and rewards did not improve Taiwan’s fishing industry but rather contributed to the depletion of tuna resources in the Central and Western Pacific and damaged the future economic performance of the fleets. With a lack of comprehensive plans for the sustainable development of the fishery industry, the Fisheries Agency’s policy of scrapping distant water vessels and buy-back programs were in vain. In the meantime, less than 3% of the the subsidies from the Fisheries Agency since 2002 were used in “possibly effective management of resources” to create a fish-rich future for the distant water fishing industry.
Therefore, in terms of budget setting, Greenpeace believes that the Fisheries Agency should proactively launch research technologies to estimate fish resources, key to creating sustainable reform of its distant water fishing industry. With regard to the 75% budget used for distant water fishing industry from 2002 to 2010, , the Fisheries Agency should reconsider where the money should be allocated in future budgets.
The closure of some of Pacific Commons to purse-seine fishing and forbidding the use of artificial fish aggregating devices in some periods are alone not enough restore our oceans to health. Although Taiwan had tried to comply with some international marine reserve measures in the past, the continued fishing by Taiwan of 3 out of 4 on-the-verge-of-extinction tuna species on the IUCN redlist in the WCPO is a clear sign that Taiwan must do more to reduce fishing effort and capacity. Greenpeace strongly urges Taiwan should actively support effective marine reserve measures in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission this year. These include: (1) A complete closure of some high-seas pockets in the Pacific Commons to all fishing including long-lining(2) a 50% reduction in the overall tuna fishing effort and (3) Forbidding the use of artificial fish aggregating devices in purse seine fisheries. Greenpeace believes that the restoration of fish populations is the only long term solution for the economic performance of the fishing sector of Taiwan and, along with the creation of a global network of marine reserves, key to delivering healthy, living oceans to future generations.
Conclusion and Suggestions4.
If FA fails to change its policies that encourage the over exploitation of tuna and other important marine resources, Taiwan will become a global leader in oceans destruction. 13/06/2011 © Greenpeace / Paul Hilton
10Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion
10
Data collected in this research is based on the budget accounts and statements in the budget system of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan), the annual reports of the Fisheries Agency for the past 10 years, statistical reports of the Fisheries Agency, annual economic survey of the fishermen, as well as the comparison of practical implementation and budgets on the books. Cross-comparisons have also been made between practical implementations and budget data collected from various legislators.
Limitations of data collection include some budget items that have been put as sub-categories, so that researchers of this report had to extract some individual items for budget calculations. Meanwhile, some details of the budgets from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan) are simply outlines. Some details of the budgets have not been released. In addition, the Fisheries Agency moved budget items into different categories, such as the gasoline subsidy in 2005 for the distant water fishing industry, which had been put under the fishing industry development fund, instead of under the category “Public Budget”.
The budget analysis of Greenpeace in this report is divided into 3 sections, including “possibly effective resource management”, “increasing distant water fishing capacity” and “unclear assistance for resource management”.
“Possibly effective resource management” refers to the related research and management measures that can support the restoration of fish resources. But those measures need further assessment.
“Increasing distant water fishing” refers to the subsidization of the Fisheries Agency and the costs should be shouldered by the industry, so that higher profits are generated with lower operational costs. Or it means the money has been used for expanding capacities, vessel buy-back and building new vessels. These are regarded as measures unable to restore fish resources.
The definition of “unclear assistance for resource management” include policies such as the observer system and patrolling system for spotting illegal practices. These are considered to be effective resource management tools but in fact the impacts are minimal.
Lastly, the budget management of the distant water fishing industry is mainly included in “affairs coordination” and “cooperative planning”, which does not fall under the categories of effective resource management.
Methodology
11Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion
Appendix
Appendix 1: Employment rate of the distant water fishing industry compared to the overall fishing industry from 1999 to 2009
Source: Annual reports of the Fishing Industry from 1999 to 2009
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Employment (Person)
9,668,000
9,784,000
9,832,000
9,969,000
10,076,000
10,240,000
10,371,000
10,522,000
10,713,000
10,853,000
10,917,000
Employment in the fishing industry (Person)
304,207
314,099
323,406
342,594
345,302
346,343
351,703
354,095
336,182
351,460
340,938
People involved in distant water fishing industry (Person)
19,859
21,274
18,386
19,338
17,878
17,619
17,157
17,287
17,406
17,396
16,287
Employment rate of the distant water fishing industry compared to the overall fishing industry
6.53%
6.77%
5.69%
5.64%
5.18%
5.09%
4.88%
4.88%
5.18%
4.95%
4.78%
Employment rate of the distant water fishing industry compared to the overall employment
0.21%
0.22%
0.19%
0.19%
0.18%
0.17%
0.17%
0.16%
0.16%
0.16%
0.15%
Appendix 2: Nearly 75% of the budget set by the Fisheries Agency is used for increasing output value
39,550,000
2,900,000
507,581,354
32,980,000
43,088,000
1,822,650,000
25,209,000
116,743,000
40,260,000
2,880,000
516,885,105
45,000
4,748,000
44,195,000
451,260,000
324,530,000
65,303,000
853,370,000
28,382,500
2,030,000
682,692,836
1,365,000
59,742,500
48,583,000
427,596,000
67,597,000
707,552,000
15,856,000
5,130,000
240,000
46,044,000
5,496,000
70,390,000
Possibly effective resource management
Increasing distant water fishing capacity
Unclear assistance for resource management
2.42%
74.39%
23.19%
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 sum percentage
Strengthen reasonable ocean fisheries management
Enhancing the International technological fisheries cooperation
Gasoline subsidy
Enhancing the operations of the distant water fishing vessels
Rewarding Taiwanese to work in the distant water fishing vessels
Subsidization for moratorium
Developing distant water fishing industry
Vessel scrapped
Vessel buy back
Observer system
Management of distant water fishing industry
Total
15,955,000
6,117,000
188,597,744
840,000
55,925,000
5,947,000
57,239,000
22,849,000
6,305,000
357,017,405
240,000
44,946,000
10,756,000
111,821,000
26,330,000
3,063,000
564,668,506
42,410,000
793,950,000
28,000,000
54,806,000
29,875,000
1,860,000
570,958,161
224,280,000
12,180,000
44,290,000
70,224,000
264,660,000
32,050,000
1,600,000
658,061,693
67,176,000
10,826,000
42,393,000
65,937,000
128,909,000
251,107,500
31,885,000
4,046,462,804
291,456,000
25,736,000
97,470,500
411,874,000
3,067,860,000
752,126,000
344,469,000
2,365,490,000
11,685,936,804
Source: Annual reports of the Fishing Industry from 1999 to 2009
Appendix 4: Gross production of various industries in Taiwan
Agriculture
Ranching
Forestry
Fishery
Mining
Manufacturing
Electricity and Gas
Water and Sewage Treatment
Construction
Wholesale and Retailing
Transportation
Hotel and Catering
Information Technology
Finance and Insurance
Real Estate
Professional, Science and Technological Services
Support Services
Public Administration and National Defense
Education
Medical and Social Services
Fine Arts, Entertainment and Leisure Services
Other Services
Total
Total in production
Discrepancies of the statistics
GDP
GDP contributions of the fishing industry
2002
152,339
11,084
2,791
28,576
67,440
2,266,757
123,318
53,186
309,864
1,807,978
353,873
205,337
354,059
769,411
846,389
197,484
110,472
867,671
500,366
343,383
87,362
298,099
10,135,863
10,439,794
4,199
10,074,337
0.00284
2003
148,465
12,125
2,145
28,839
54,435
2,495,390
130,122
59,220
297,762
1,845,364
355,933
202,018
370,124
774,129
886,959
207,123
113,495
888,961
524,252
346,073
90,334
302,595
10,746,822
11,092,136
-1,662
10,443,993
0.002761
2004
142,720
11,831
1,711
24,994
53,689
2,753,057
135,799
65,198
319,005
1,963,121
374,766
210,520
392,619
833,719
924,415
220,123
125,543
896,453
542,764
353,614
92,226
308,935
11,257,242
11,608,183
3,910
11,090,474
0.002254
2005
129,560
13,554
1,718
28,730
50,777
2,970,511
142,120
70,703
323,033
2,084,364
382,796
223,038
402,471
869,740
964,623
227,254
139,496
910,289
551,420
347,721
95,743
327,581
11,892,817
12,243,471
0
11,612,093
0.002474
2006
1142,914
20,786
1,722
32,167
39,444
3,239,070
147,526
77,454
332,438
2,188,716
394,318
234,114
415,443
891,545
1,045,155
253,492
159,842
909,713
572,723
347,436
101,238
345,561
12,592,999
12,948,282
27,703
12,243,471
0.002627
2007
134,246
20,787
1,799
35,984
47,487
3,557,193
154,092
85,662
337,509
2,318,828
412,324
243,592
430,564
946,299
1,100,855
275,257
173,724
899,194
587,898
364,543
105,328
359,834
12,709,161
13,048,895
21,786
12,975,985
0.002773
2008
136,304
21,911
1,568
33,226
42,155
3,592,538
150,076
88,210
318,794
2,370,151
414,368
239,619
451,965
925,520
1,108,549
274,076
186,309
906,340
592,131
375,414
107,775
372,162
12,494,839
12,805,733
13,202
13,070,681
0.002542
2009
136,920
22,571
1,573
26,157
44,013
3,434,604
149,522
90,406
293,166
2,340,321
399,089
236,374
467,484
854,657
1,128,623
281,907
182,752
913,920
607,204
391,764
111,361
380,451
10,135,863
10,439,794
4,199
12,818,935
0.00204
Appendix 3: Employed seamen statistics of Taiwan
Source: Survey of agriculture, fishing and ranch industries from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan) in the period 2000 to 2005.
Number of people (person)
14,557
4,491
9,042
3,122
In proportion 35.1%
35.1%
18.3%
26.1%
14.8%
Number of people (person)
22,375
16,533
16,410
11,158
In proportion 35.1%
54%
67.4%
47.3%
52.8%
Number of people (person)
4,514
3,520
9,230
6,860
In proportion 35.1%
10.9%
14.3%
26.6%
32.5%
Subtota
Distant water fishing
Subtota
Distant water fishing
Year
2000
2005
Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu
41,445
24,544
34,682
21,140
Mainland China
Total employed seamen
Other areas
substantial figures (Unit: TWD) Updated: 2010/11/18
1. West Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. (2010, May). Tuna year book. Retrieved July 22,2011, from the World Wide
Web: http://www.wcpfc.int/node/1759
2. West Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. (n.d.). Vessels on the WCPFC 'Record of Fishing Vessels' (RFV). Retrieved
July 22,2011, from the World Wide Web: http://intra.wcpfc.int/Lists/Vessels/Stats.aspx
3. Harley S, Hoyle S, Williams P, Hampton J, Kleiber P. (Eds). Stock Assessment of Bigeye Tuna in the Western and Central
Pacific Ocean. Paper presented at: SC6: Proceedings of the 6th Regular Session of the Scientific Committee for the
Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. 10 – 19th August 2010, Nukualofa, Tonga.
4. International Union for Conservation of Nature. (2011, July 7). Increased protection urgently needed for tuna. Retrieved July
22, 2011, from http://www.iucn.org/what/tpas/biodiversity/?7820/Increased-protection-urgently-needed-for-tunas
5. The Fisheries Agency (2010) about the survey of the distant water fishing operators 2009. The information is taken from the
agency response to questions by the legislators on 17th May 2011.
6. The Fisheries Agency (2006) Management and restructuring of the distant water fishing industry. Information is taken on
22nd July 2011.
http://www.fa.gov.tw/pages/detail.aspx?Node=211&Page=15074&Index=8
7. Chen Yanqi (2008) Measures to tackle the rising gasoline price for Taiwan’s fishing industry. Information taken on 22nd July
2011. http://www.coa.gov.tw/view.php?catid=17820
8. Huang Xulei (14th July 2008) A distant water fishing operator who told the Liberty Times, “the future is blurred”.
Information was taken on 22nd July 2011. http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2008/new/jul/14/today-south3.htm
9. Appendix 1: Employment rate of the distant water fishing industry to the overall fishing industry from 1999 to 2009.
10.Appendix 3: Employed seaman statistics in Taiwan
11.The Fisheries Agency (2010) about the survey for the distant water fishing industry (2009). Information was taken when the
agency responded to the legislators on 17th May 2011.
12. Lin Zhengfeng (9th November 2004) who told a Taiwan magazine Businesstoday,"How to look for miracles in
the corrupted oceans”. Information was taken on 22nd July 2011.
http://www.businesstoday.com.tw/v1/content.aspx?a=W20041109248&p=4
13. Wan Niansheng (9th May 2011) who told Taiwan magazine BusinessWeekly, “One fish is priced at TWD 10 but he poured
in TWD 2 billion to buy a fishing vessel”. Information was taken on 22nd July 2011.
http://www.businessweekly.com.tw/webarticle.php?id=43254&p=3
Reference
Only effective international conservation measures can restore the ocean’s health and ensure a stable ground for Taiwan’s fishing industry. 13/06/2011 © Greenpeace / Paul Hilton
14. http://ebas1.ebas.gov.tw/pxweb/Dialog/statfile9L.asp
15. http://www.mofa.gov.tw/webapp/ct.asp?xItem=45816&CtNode=2174&mp=1
16. The above list is based on the budget information from the Fisheries Agency. The calculations do not include subsidizations f
rom other government commissions or local governments, for example, the construction of a distant water fishing hub for
TWD 7 billion and the construction of an ultra-low temperature distant water fishing factory, with a subsidy from the Kaohsiung
government of TWD 40 million and other private investors.
17. West Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. (n.d.). Vessels on the WCPFC 'Record of Fishing Vessels' (RFV). Retrieved July
22,2011,
from the World Wide Web: http://intra.wcpfc.int/Lists/Vessels/Stats.aspx
18. The Fisheries Agency: Subsidization of TWD 500 million for the operations of the distant water fishing industry. Information
was taken on 22nd July 2011.
http://www.fa.gov.tw/pages/detail.aspx?Node=58&Page=7970&Index=3
19. Zhang Xixuan (2009) An evaluation of the conflicts between observers and the operators. National Sun Yat-sen University
Institute of Marine Affairs
20. The Fisheries Agency enhances the implementation of patrolling work in the North of Pacific Ocean in the fishing
seasons. Information was taken on 22nd July 2011 from the Fisheries Agency.
http://www.fa.gov.tw/pages/detail.aspx?Node=58&Page=7515&Index=3
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