The Fishery Resources Institute said that it would propose rules to protect white-spotted guitarfish after the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the species as critically endangered.
The fish, also known as white-spotted wedgefish or bottlenose wedgefish, is often mistaken for a shark by local fishers, but is actually a type of cartilaginous fish of the Rhinidae family.
As the number of white-spotted guitarfish has dwindled in recent years due to overfishing and shrinking habitats, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in 2019 listed the species on the trade control list, with countries exporting them required to provide government documents saying that this practice would not harm the species.
Photo courtesy of the Fishery Resources Institute
Despite being listed as a critically endangered species by the IUCN, the government lacked statistics on the changes in population of white-spotted wedgefish around the country.
The institute, which is part of the Ministry of Agriculture, was tasked by the Ocean Affairs Council last year to use tagging and release methods to study the migration and changes in natural habitats of the species, it said.
Since June, a total of four white-spotted guitarfish have been tagged, with two released off the coast of Penghu County and two off the shore of Yunlin County, said Hsu Hua-hsun (徐華遜), a research assistant in the institute’s Coastal and Offshore Fishery Research Center.
More white-spotted guitarfish would be tagged for the study, he said, adding that the first set of migration data would become available in November.
Another part of the study was to verify the fish catch reports filed by fishers upon their return to harbor, he said.
“White-spotted guitarfish are often categorized as sharks because they are often caught along with other fish or are often mistaken as sharks. We need to verify those reports. Once we have both sets of data, we would come up with our preliminary proposal on how to protect the fish,” Hsu said.
There are still challenges in limiting the sales of the protected species, he said.
The dorsal and tail fins of white-spotted guitarfish can be used to make fin soups, while the meat can be used to make fillet, fish paste, fish balls and Japanese tempura, he said.
The cost of a white-spotted guitarfish in Penghu, Yunlin and Chiayi counties varies from NT$100 to NT$200 per kilogram, he said, adding that some had been exported to China in the past.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS