Taiwan and the US held discussions Thursday last week on the preservation of marine resources and the possibility of Taiwan’s participation in international fisheries organizations, the Fisheries Agency said on Saturday.
The forum, held under the Taiwan-US Fisheries Consultations, was jointly organized by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States and the American Institute in Taiwan, the agency said in a statement.
During the consultations, which were held in Taipei for the first time since 2018, the US promised to assist Taiwan in its efforts to gain international participation, while Taiwan pledged to abide by its obligations regarding international conservation of fisheries resources, the agency said.
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
Other issues such as climate change and cooperation between Taiwanese and US coastguards were also discussed, it said.
They also discussed recent fisheries policy developments in their respective countries, such as their efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities, regulation of on-board inspections, and the transfer of catches between vessels on the high seas, the agency said.
Prior to Thursday’s consultations, US and Taiwan officials held a working meeting the previous day to discuss the potential for bilateral cooperation on an anti-IUU fishing strategy authorized by the US’ 1997 Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement Act, the agency said.
Maritime law enforcement and sharing information on managing and monitoring fisheries resources were also discussed in Wednesday’s meeting, it said.
The IUU fishing might be associated with crimes and labor abuse, while it generates a shadow economy of 26 million tonnes of fish caught annually, which had an estimated annual value of US$10 billion to US$23 billion, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said.
In 2013, Taiwan launched the National Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing by fishing vessels within its jurisdiction and on the high seas.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Taiwanese officials at the forum invited local fishers’ associations and academics to brief the US delegation on the progress made in recent years on fishers’ labor rights and sustainable fisheries, the Fisheries Agency said.
Taiwanese officials from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, the Coast Guard Administration and Ministry of Foreign Affairs attended the meetings, while the US was represented by officials from its Department of State, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and coastguard, the agency said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS