The Supreme Administrative Court has upheld a fine of NT$12.35 million (US$386,179) handed to the owner and captain of a Pingtung County fishing boat that was found carrying 38 tonnes of protected shark species and fins.
The court handed down the final verdict on Sept. 1, rejecting an appeal by the two defendants, Hung Shu-ling (洪淑鈴), the owner of the Dong Cheng No. 368 fishing vessel, and the ship’s captain surnamed Chen (陳). The vessel was registered at Pingtung’s Donggang fishing port (東港).
Hung and Chen were convicted of contravening Article 13, Item 11 of the Act for Distant Water Fisheries (遠洋漁業條例), which covers fishing for, retaining, transshipping, landing or selling of prohibited species.
Photo courtesy of the Fisheries Agency
Two other ships, the Jin Chang No. 21 and Sheng Ji Cyun, both registered and based at Donggang, were also heavily fined in recent weeks after being found in possession of protected shark species in 2019.
The Supreme Administrative Court on Aug. 19 ruled that the ship owners pay NT$10 million each, and their commercial fishing licenses were suspended for five months.
The 38 tonnes found on the Dong Cheng No. 368 was among the largest illegal hauls of protected shark species and fins found in the past few years, and included definned silky sharks weighing 22,241kg, 1,781kg of silky shark fins, 64.4kg of whitetip shark fins, 44.8kg of blue shark fins and 21.8kg of longfin mako shark fins, the court filing said.
Fisheries Agency inspectors searched the ship when it returned to Donggang in January 2020, after five months fishing in the Pacific Ocean, it said.
The boat was found to contain high volumes of silky sharks and whitetip sharks, in disproportion to the total catch, which meant the crew had targeted the two protected species, as the two have different habitats and require different longlining operations to catch, the filing said.
Judges upheld the NT$12.35 million fine against the two defendants, ruling Hung and Chen had failed in their responsibility to supervise and manage the crew, who had targeted silky sharks and whitetip sharks, the fins and carcasses of which can be sold at a high price, the court ruling said.
“Taiwan is among the leading countries in the world with deep-sea fishing fleets operating in major oceans. To uphold the commercial fishing rights of our deep-sea fleets ... our government has joined a number of international fishery management organizations,” including the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), the court said in its ruling.
“Therefore our nation has an obligation to comply with all regulations and measures for fish stock conservation, protection and management mandated by WCPFC and other international fishery organizations,” it said.
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