About 2,800 fishers from Pingtung and Yilan counties yesterday marched in Taipei to protest against stricter regulations, while civic groups called on the government not to loosen regulations barring illegal fishing activities.
Since Taiwan was given a “yellow card” about illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities by the EU in October 2015, the Council of Agriculture has been trying to get the nation removed from the list by tightening regulations.
Since January last year, when the Act Governing Distant Water Fisheries (遠洋漁業條例), the Act to Govern Investment in the Operation of Foreign Flag Fishing Vessels (投資經營非我國籍漁船管理條例) and amendments to the Fisheries Act (漁業法) took effect, the council has issued fines of more than NT$120 million (US$3.9 million) as of Oct. 25.
Photo: CNA
The protesters marched from the council building to the Legislative Yuan, demanding that the government retract the “irrational” regulations, pass legislation to specifically govern fishers’ labor standards and increase maritime patrols in the nation’s exclusive economic zones.
It was the largest-ever protest by local fishers, who cannot but take to the streets because they have no other way to oppose the government’s oppression, said Wang Hsin-chan (王新展), director of a self-help group of fishers from Donggang.
Due to the government’s failure to protect the nation’s exclusive economic zones, local fishers can hardly work in waters near Parece Vela (沖之鳥, known as the Okinotori Islands in Japan), Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) and the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), Siaoliouciou Fishers’ Union chairman Tsai Pao-hsing (蔡寶興) said.
Regarding the council’s plan to include fishers’ working regulations in the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), Tsai said the move is unfeasible, as the working conditions of distant-water fishers are different from those of regular workers.
Fisheries Agency Deputy Director Lin Kuo-ping (林國平) told reporters that the agency would discuss with the Ministry of Labor and fishers’ groups to see if distant-water fishers could be covered by Article 84-1 of the act, which governs flexible working hours.
Other regulations are not likely to be loosened, as they follow international standards, Lin said.
A coalition of migrant worker advocate groups, including Greenpeace Taiwan, the Taiwan International Workers’ Association and the UK-based Environmental Justice Foundation’s Taiwan branch, yesterday issued a joint statement urging the government to keep cracking down on illegal fishing activities.
While the government’s implementation of the law has some room for improvement, it should not cave in to pressure or loosen the regulations, otherwise the nation might be given a “red card” by the EU, they said.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
RSS