Taiwan the "fishless" island

If it’s fish you’re eating (I eat a lot), even at the seafood restaurant next to the port or harbor it’s probably not from the waters around Taiwan but imported frozen.

Article (in cooperation with CommonWealth Magazine) in China Post today titled “Not plenty of fish in the sea for Taiwan’s struggling seafood industry”. Link http://english.cw.com.tw/article.do?action=show&id=13541 (thanks Tiger Mountaineer).

Some quotes:

  • “Taiwan’s residents consume huge amounts of seafood, but much of it is imported rather than caught in the waters off the island”.
  • " why is it that fresh fish caught in neighboring waters is more expensive in neighboring waters is more expensive along the Hsinchu coast than in similar seafood restaurants in Taipei? Simply put, because fish in Taiwan is generally not freshly caught".
    – " Hordes of tourists from North and Central Taiwan flood the area on weekends and holidays, hoping to get a taste of the freshest seafood, without realizing that what they may be buying or eating is frozen fish caught in distant waters".
  • Taiwan can be accurately described as a “fishless” island, relying mostly on cultivated fish and catches from distant waters to satisfy the high demand”
  • "The problem {according to Acadamia Sinica} is that Taiwan’s coasts were destroyed a long time ago by overfishing, habitat destruction, and environmental pollution]".
  • “The auction markets in these ports in southern Taiawn now serve more as transaction and distribution centers. Fish are gathered from all over and then sent to traditional markets in Tainan and Kaohsiung, where they are then purchased by customers”.
  • “The special local flavor that once distinguished each port has completely disappeared”.
  • According to Fisheries Agency director-general James Sha, “Initially, we depended on fishing vessels to catch fish. Then we relied on fish smuggled in from China. Now we depend on imports

Considering the way local fisherman have gang raped the seas off Taiwan, no wonder.

As a scuba diver, I often see fishing in protected areas, under the noses of the coastguard, who do f^%k all. Zero enforcement of marine protection laws.

You are lucky if you see an anorexic sea horse.

It’s over here at Common Wealth Magazine’s site. Sad stuff.

[quote=“bigduke6”]Considering the way local fisherman have gang raped the seas off Taiwan, no wonder.

As a scuba diver, I often see fishing in protected areas, under the noses of the coastguard, who do f^%k all. Zero enforcement of marine protection laws.

You are lucky if you see an anorexic sea horse.[/quote]

Ah, yes, but you’re forgetting that they had to do that because of, like, the economy and stuff.

Just imagine, if they hadn’t turned Taiwan’s entire coastline into a lifeless, stripmined, polluted wasteland, where would Taiwan be today?

There are so many fishing boats trawling constantly outside my house- I wonder what they’re coming up with?
Also heard that the reason the jelly fish were so bad 2 summers ago was because their natural competitors/predators had been fished to oblivion. Then last summer- no jellyfish- did they put something in the water to kill them all to save tourism?
And how much pollution is there? :frowning:

Somewhere fishy. :laughing:

they still take a lot out. squid boats are common too locally. as a matter of fact i can think of a couple uses for all those big ass lights on squid boats that would use less energy, create more profits and also its waste be commercially valuable.

one of my students is from Dongang in PIngdong. his family fishes, and his uncle always goes down near borneo to fish for the big tuna. they were telling me the prices they get for some of these fish…no wonder its worth the trip.

also in restaurants there are LOTS of locally farmed fish. no idea on how much is exported, but surely the domestic aquatic farms must put a dent in the total, no?

A wee ancedote about over-fishing. I just got sent the pics from the folks I met when hiking up into Er-Zi Shan (fairly remote hot springs). They were staying there for 2 nights, and this photo was taken on the 2nd day. So by that time they had at most 4 more meals left, that’s an awful lot of fish for 5 people. There’s a fair chance all these are Taiwanese shoveljaw carp, 苦花, an endemic and not that widespread species.

There ain’t no way these were all eaten at the springs, and I’m doubting that they would have lasted a day and a half without refrigeration, if they chose to try and carry them out.

I once flew from Taiwan to Okinawa at night. The sea was full of hundreds if not thousands of squid boats stretching out to the Okinawan islands.

Some of those boats would be picking up fish from other boats. But this problem is hardly unique to taiwan. This is the state of most fisheries around the world. Gone. The taieanese are not any worse than most european countries that destroyed there own resources years ago. Or canada with cod and then salmon farms killing all yhe wild stocks. And you can thank Norway for the latter. Almost no one takes care of fish resources.

I think many other countries have realized the destruction of over fishing and have put laws in place that are enforced.
There is nothing more frustrating then seeing fishing in protected areas under the eyes of the very people tasked to protect these areas. Hence zero enforcement or will to enforce.
Now I just cut traps and lines when I am diving, because no local seems to give a fuck.

[quote=“bigduke6”]I think many other countries have realized the destruction of over fishing and have put laws in place that are enforced.
There is nothing more frustrating then seeing fishing in protected areas under the eyes of the very people tasked to protect these areas. Hence zero enforcement or will to enforce.
Now I just cut traps and lines when I am diving, because no local seems to give a fuck.[/quote]

Can you name any? There are massive dead zones all over the world’s oceans and little is being done to prevent overfishing with a few exceptions such as Alaska, some areas of the American east coast, Portugal to a degree and a few others. Otherwise it is destructive behavior across the board with lip service to sustainability and protection.

I can hardly point my finger at the Taiwanese when my own home province allowed our wild salmon runs to be destroyed.

05-09-2012 - Baishawan Bay - North Coast Taiwan

Illegally parked vehicle on the walking path, next to a sign which says no fishing and then fishing right in front of the sign! The girl in the truck was just taking out their portable flower pot type BBQ grill when I was leaving.

S.O.P. for Taiwan!

I saw almost the exact same thing in a fresh water stream in the farmlands around San-Zhi this past Sunday. Three scooters punks, drinking beer, BBQing, smoking, and fishing right next to the sign which said, “No Fishing”.

sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c … 1O909B.DTL

“After four years of closures and shortened seasons, our prized California king salmon is back.”

If only Taiwan would follow US example :frowning:

After Japan finishes off any productive fishing grounds, caught and sold anything that is moving, China can finish off the microbes. Unfortunately, Taiwan has fisherman too. They are left with the algae and we are left with the shit.

Why? Why? Why? does the public put up with this massacre of the oceans. This space is mine and yours. Yet, few are ready to kick ass. It’s about time that the public, ya! us! stood up and say NO!. You fish here, your boat is going to the bottom. Nobody has the balls. That’s the problem. Taiwan is my home and I understand the need to make a living for the fishermen that harvest the algae. Yet, when they go head to head with illegal competitors, it is usually the Taiwan fishermen that have to hunker down and apologise for offending the true culprits. If you enjoy seafood, be sure to write down your memories. That’s all your grandchildren will enjoy.

It is weird, isn’t it … but public apathy is hardly new. The entire planet is being munched up and spat out by the industrial machine, and people just shrug and say, yeah, but you have to do that because I want my iPod and my Ikea furniture; plenty of people will aggressively defend the destruction on that basis (check out some of the posts in the Japan’s Nuclear Reactors thread). Nobody is educated enough to know that, actually, you DON’T have to do that, and you can still have your iPod and your cheap shitty furniture.

It sometimes seems to me that the entire point of modern education is to fill young heads with untruths so that they will compliantly fill their place in the big Machine and say “well, what ya gonna do?” when they hear about things like this happening.

A few people do make an attempt to aggressively defend the sea (I was reading recently about some S.A. guy who found himself an interesting gig in Sierra Leone chasing off illegal Chinese trawlers) but international law is firmly on the side of those who are buggering it up.

btw, Taiwanese trawlers are often found fishing in places they shouldn’t, and doing things they shouldn’t. A lot of the shark-fin trade is controlled by Taiwanese “companies”. I assume they get away with this more readily than most because Taiwan officially doesn’t exist.

farming inland can be done pretty well and pretty clean. they already have everything built here they need only spend some time researching good food sources locally that produce fast and farm them inland. but then you compete for land stuff and its easier to just poach something from a huge big ocean.

short term gain, long term pain. in the end animal systems that run with plant systems, especially aquatic ones, is what is going to be the future of food…unless we pull some cool star trek stuff. common sense will likely come before star trek technology though.

Seemingly most of the fish consumed is already farmed, if course you would need to check the inputs from wild fish feed for farmed fish. Population growth, tech advancement and economic growth have also increases pressure on fish stocks.
The rule of ‘open seas’ has caused this , with no owner in the human sense there is little incentive for governments to take care of them for their own immediate good.
Hope everybody likes eating jellyfish!

hehe. If anyone has tried eating a jellyfish, I’m sure it was a Taiwanese person. Not sure why im thinking milk tea when you mention that.

i think one of the biggest things they need to get away from with farmed fish is the fish meal from wild stocks…its really pretty illogical. there are other protein sources that give off other byproducts that are just as effective and easier to culture/process.