A consensus on a tuna conservation plan was reached by country members at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s annual meeting on Friday, the Fisheries Agency said yesterday.
Tuna and skipjack catch in the Western and Central Pacific reached a record-high of 2.61 million tonnes last year, the agency said, adding that the total regional catch accounted for more than 60 percent of the world’s tuna and skipjack catch.
The five-day meeting in Cairns, Australia, ended on Friday with agreements for new measures to conserve bluefin tuna species, reducing the catch of young tuna (less than three years old and weighing less than 30kg) by 15 percent, the agency said.
On tropical tuna species, such as bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna and skipjack tuna, commission members agreed to a four-year plan to ban or reduce the use of fish aggregating devices (FAD) by purse seine fishing vessels for at least five months each year, the agency said.
The plan would reduce the limit on bigeye tuna longline catch by 10 percent with a goal of restoring bigeye tuna populations to a sustainable level by 2018, the agency added.
The reduction of catch would be enforced gradually, starting with a ban next year on the use of FADs for at least four months and five months by 2015 and 2016 respectively.
The plan also aims to reduce bigeye tuna longline fishing by 5 percent by 2015, and 10 percent by 2017.
The agency said the limit for Taiwan’s bigeye longline catch will be set at 11,288 tonnes for next year and 9,675 tonnes by 2017.
In order to control the catch ability of member countries, with the exception of small island nations, the total number of purse seine fishing vessels longer than 24m and bigeye tuna longline fishing vessels will be increased.
The commission has also decided to ban the catch of silky shark and will require fishing vessels to begin keeping logbooks and daily records of catch and vessel operations.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
RSS