Net loss-How Taiwan subsidizes tuna depletion

Net Loss:

How Taiwan

Subsidizes

Tuna Depletion

www.greenpeace.org.tw

Executive Summary

Report

1. Taiwan is paying for the distant water fishing industry with resource depletion

2. The budget set to subsidize the distant water fishing industry from the Fisheries Agency is benefiting only 5% of the total population involved n the fishing industry.

3. 75% of the budget set by the Fisheries Agency is used for increasing output value

4. Conclusion and Suggestions

Methodology

Reference

Contents +

Without healthy marine resources, distant water fisheries will not thrive, regardless of the amount of subsidies or the size of the budget. 27/06/2006 © Greenpeace / Gavin Newman

Contents + Taiwan is the largest distant water fishing power in the Western and Central Pacific, where 60% of the world’s tuna come from. However tuna populations in the region are facing an overfishing crisis. Among the four species of tuna fished in the area, three species are already on the redlist of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Taiwan’s distant water fishing relies heavily on fish resources in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO), resulting in high gasoline costs. Thus Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry faces some huge challenges ahead: the depletion of resources and fish, as well as high oil prices internationally. In order to resolve this, the Fisheries Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan (行政院農業委員會漁業署) has spent taxpayers' money to subsidize the rising costs, in turn contributing to overfishing. Greenpeace analyzed the budget of the distant water fishing industry from the Fisheries Agency. From 2002 until now and has discovered:

Executive Summary

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Taiwan accounts for 30% of fishing vessels in the Western and Central Pacific, where the marine resources are in serious crisis. 13/06/2011 © Greenpeace / Paul Hilton

The Fisheries Agency neglects the reality of resource depletion. It continues to use taxpayers’ money to subsidize the distant water fishing industry, which makes it an accomplice in the destruction of tuna resources.

The Fisheries Agency had spent TWD 16 billion (over 382 million euro)on the distant water fishing industry in the period 2002 to 2010. Of the total, about 75% was used to increase the capacity of the fleet, including subsidization of gasoline for vessels and vessels buy-back programs. The Fisheries Agency has yet to control the number of new fishing vessels, even though Taiwan is facing international pressure to reduce fishing capacity. All these lead to the increase of total tonnage of Taiwanese vessels in WCPO. Only less than 3% of the total budget was used to research and explore “possibly effective resources management”.

There are about 18,000 people, which accounts for 5% of Taiwan’s population, involved in the distant water fishing industry. The majority of them are managers, not front line fishermen.

The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) contribution of the distant water fishing industry accounted for an annual 0.25% during the period of 2002 to 2009, which is about TWD 30 billion (over 717 million euro). Distant water fishing industry contributed 46% productive value for the whole fishing industry in Taiwan.

01Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion

02

The Fisheries Agency must deal with the issue of resources depletion when it sets the budget. With regard to the 75% of the budget spent on enhancing the output of the distant water fishing industry, we demand the Fisheries Agency evaluate whether the money poured into each item is being used wisely. The agency should consider sustainable development, both conceptually and practically.

In participating in international policy negotiations (such as Regional Fisheries Management Organizations, or RFMOs), the Fisheries Agency should proactively investigate and support global marine reserve proposals, in order to better fulfill its responsibility to protect the entire marine ecosystem. Its fisheries policies should be based on the precautionary principle. In regards to Taiwan’s largest fishing ground the Western and Central Pacific, we demand the Fisheries Agency support for the following measures at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission :

● Reducing 50% of tuna fishing effort in the Western and Central Pacific.

● Closing the Pacific Commons, four high seas pockets in between national waters of Pacific Island Nations, for the restoration of tuna populations, the future of the Pacific Ocean and to halt illegal fishing and destructive overfishing.

● Banning the use of artificial fish aggregating devices (FADs) in purse seine fisheries.

Greenpeace recommendations:

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2、

Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna Depletion

Three out of four tuna species in the Western and Central Pacific are red-listed by IUCN. The picture shows a pile of yellow-fin tuna, which has been red-listed since July, 2011. 25/09/2006 © Greenpeace / Alex Hofford

02

● The Fisheries Agency (Survey of the distant water fishing industry operators 2009) 5：

The international crude oil price has risen rapidly in the last 2 years, which has led to high operating costs for the vessels. Consequently, the (distant water) fishing industry had recorded net losses in recent years. In addition to that, pressure from international organizations calling for the protection of fish resources has led to rising costs in fishing operations.

Distant Water tuna resource depletion and rising crude oil prices are rec-ognized by both the industry and the government

● The Fisheries Agency (Management and restructuring of the distant water fishing industry)6：

Due to rising international crude oil prices and the difficulty in raising market fish prices, Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry is facing a difficult operational environment with high costs.

● Council of Agriculture, the Executive Yuan (Agricultural policy and situations)7：

Gasoline for tuna vessels accounts for up to 40.7% of the total costs. For the squid fishing vessels, gasoline is 53% or more of the total costs. Gasoline is an important expense for the overall costs. However, in the context of international free trade, the market price for fish has had little space to grow. With shrinking resources and large catch capacities under high-cost operations, salaries of front line fishermen have experienced limited growth.

● People involved in the distant water fishing industry8：

In the context of high gasoline price and depleted resources, the distant water fishing industry is an aging industry. It’s time to reform.

Taiwan is the largest distant water fishing operator in the Western and Central Pacific, which provides 60%1 of the world’s tuna with 1,953 vessels currently registered under Taiwan’s flag2, accounting for 30% of total distant water fishing vessels in the region. But this region, a major Taiwanese fishing ground, is now experiencing a serious tuna crisis .3According to the redlist of endangered species published by IUCN4, the most important tuna species in the Western and Central Pacific such as the big-eye tuna, yellow-fin tuna and albacore are now listed as vulnerable and near threatened Across the world, 5 out of 8 tuna species, such as the Southern Bluefin tuna and Atlantic Bluefin tuna, are on the redlist. Despite this precarious situation, the large fleet of Taiwanese vessels still employ high-tech and industrial methods to fish in the Western and Central Pacific, where total catches (of all nationalities)reached a peak of 2.46 million tons in 2009. Why are the Taiwanese vessels leading the plunder of the Pacific tuna to oblivion and how exactly can they afford to do this despite declining resources?

As tuna becomes more scarce, the operating costs of the fishing fleets increase. For example vessel operators have to spend more on gasoline, which accounts for 40% of total costs, in order to remain in operation in the Western and Central Pacific regions.

Taiwan is paying for the distant water fishing industry with resource depletion

1.


According to one estimate, only 5%9 of the fishing population is involved in the distant water fishing industry. Among the front line fishermen, the number of immigrant fisherman is 5 to 6 times higher than the number of Taiwanese fishermen10. For those Taiwanese nationals who are currently in the distant water fishing industry, many are owners of vessels or involved in the running of corporations but not front line fishermen. In other words, the money handed out by the government is not directly going into the pockets of the fishermen.

According to the annual reports of the Fisheries Agency in 200911, “the distant water fishing industry is managed and invested by corporations.” In the same year, a survey of the distant water fishing industry mentioned, “the traditional tuna long-line fishery in the Pacific recorded operational costs of TWD 40 million per year, while frozen long-line fishery has an annual operational cost of TWD 60 million (954 000 euro). For the skipjack tuna purse-seine fishery, the total yearly operational cost is close to TWD 100 million (over 2 300 000 euro).”

A distant water fishing operator also said, “The development of distant water fisheries requires large, modern vessels. In order to build a new vessel, the investment would be TWD 300 million, 500 million or above. For instance, a new 700-ton vessel costs TWD 200 million. The basic operational expenses for such a vessel is TWD 40 million or above. Thirteen vessels plus another two reefers will mean total assets up to TWD 3 billion12.”

In addition, a fishing corporation official commented that, “the most expensive American made frozen purse-seine costs TWD 500 million13.”

When the Fisheries Agency said that it tried to allocate resources to protect the rights of fishermen and support the distant water fishing industry, it is in fact handing out money to big, wealthy corporations. Meanwhile, the distant water fishing industry is only contributing 0.25% of Taiwan’s annual GDP14 since 2002, though its productive value accounts for 46%15 of the overall fishing industry.

The budget set to subsidize the distant water fishing industry from the Fisheries Agency is benefiting only 5% of the total population involved in the fishing industry.

2.

The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) contribution of the distant water fishing industry accounted for 0.25% of the budget in the period 2002 to 2009, which is about TWD 30 billion. The output value of the industry was 46% for the whole fishing industry in Taiwan.


04

Greenpeace analyzed 11 budget items from the Fisheries Agency in the period of 2002 to 2010 and organized them in three categories: “possibly effective resource management”,16“increasing distant water fishing capacity” and “unclear assistance for resource management” . We discovered that in the total budget of TWD 11.6 billion, around 75% of funds were used to increase fishing while less than 3% of the budget was used in developing sustainable resource management.

3.

Graphic 2: Budget structure of the distant water fishing industry from 2002 to 2010 by the Fisheries Agency 17

● Possibly effective resource management：

Since 2002, there were about TWD 80 million add euros!! being used in this segment, which was about 2.42% of the total budget. Money was used in collecting catch information, conducting scientific researches about fish species and mixed breeds according to the demands of international fisheries commissions, and inviting scholars for bilateral scientific conferences and seminars.

● Increasing distant water fishing capacity：

Since 2002, an expenditure of TWD 8.6 billion (add euros) was used in this segment, which was about 74.39% of the total budget. Money was used in subsidizing gasoline costs, rewarding programs, encouraging Taiwanese people to work in the vessels, subsidizing the industry during moratorium, scrapping vessels and passing on the costs of the distant water fishing industry to taxpayers.

● Unclear assistance for resource management：

Since 2002, there were about TWD 2.7 billion (Add Euros) spending in this segment, which was about 23.19% of the total budget. Money was used in the observer system, patrolling management and industry management. However the illegal practices in the distant water by Taiwanese vessels were not under control and the Fisheries Agency mainly planned the industry development as affairs coordination and planning.

8,692,985,30474.39 %

75% of the budget set by the Fisheries Agency is used for increasing output value.

282,992,5002.42 %

8,692,985,30474.39 %

2,709,959,00023.19 %


Graphic 3: Budget breakdowns of the distant water fishing industry

(Unit: TWD) Subsidization for gasoline

3.1 Possibly effective resource managementThis money was used to collect catch information, conducting scientific research about fish species in response to the demands of international fisheries commissions, as well as to invite scholars to scientific conferences and seminars. However, research results were not published on the website of the Fisheries Agency and there are no signs to show that the Fisheries Agency would use the research results to proactively develop sustainable policies for the fishing industry.

3.2 Increasing capacity for distant water fishing in-dustry: Subsidizing the costs of the industry which should be shouldered by the industry. The saved costs helped boost the profits of the operators and expand their catch capacities.

● In the period of 2002 to 2010, the Fisheries Agency spent TWD 4 billion in subsidizing the industry’s gasoline costs.

● Putting aside gasoline subsidies, the Fisheries Agency had handed out TWD 300 million to the industry.

● Without in-depth considerations of sustainable development, the government recklessly encouraged people to work on distant water vessels. This caused the dilemma of workers having been trained but without fish to catch.

● The Fisheries Agency is not yet able to solve the problems of the over development and the excess of catch capacity of its fishing industry.

● Taiwan’s total catch capacity in the Western and Central Pacific has increased for the past few years, even though the government tried to scrap vessels and launch buy-back programs.

The Fisheries Agency started to subsidize the gasoline costs of the distant water fishing industry in 2002 by allowing tariff-free gasoline purchases and a gasoline price 40 to 50% lower for the distant water fishing industry. The agency even set up a group to implementing subsidies. However, the skyrocketing international crude oil price also lead to even further subsidies. Compared with the subsidization of TWD 180 million in 2003, the monetary hand-out for gasoline increased to TWD 650 million in 2010 .


06

Subsidization for gasoline：

The Fisheries Agency started to subsidize the gasoline costs of the distant water fishing industry in 2002 by allowing tariff-free gasoline purchases and a gasoline price 40 to 50% lower for the distant water fishing industry. The agency even set up a group to implementing subsidies. However, the skyrocketing international crude oil price also lead to even further subsidies. Compared with the subsidization of TWD 180 million in 2003, the monetary hand-

out for gasoline increased to TWD 650 million in 2010 18 .

Vessels scrapped and buy-back programs：

The Fisheries Agency had never set policies to reduce Taiwanese vessels, until in 2005, it started to eliminate small and medium vessels because the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) imposed sanctions on Taiwan for its large scale illegal fishing activities. By comparing the vessel information of the Western and Central Pacific, Greenpeace discovered that the vessel reductions of Taiwan in recent years cannot attain the goals of the marine reserve, and also increases the catch capacity and agency subsidies.

The Fisheries Agency responded to the demand from ICCAT by reducing 160 large long-line tuna vessels and 23 large big-eye tuna vessels in the period of 2005 to 2008. In the years 2007 and 2008, the number of Taiwanese long-line vessels and trawlers were also reduced. Altogether, there were 338 vessels reduced from 2005 to 2008 for a buy-back cost of TWD

3.8 billion19

Graphic 4: Distant water fishing vessels reductions through the ves-sel scrapped and buy-back programs from 2005 to 2008

Year

2005

2006

2007

2008

Types

100 tons or above long-line vessels



100 tons or above trawler

20-100 tons long-line vessels


100 tons or above trawler

100 tons or below trawler

20 to 100 tons long-line vessels

20 tons or below long-line vessels

Others

Total

Number

59

101

23

57

5

32

7

13

1

25

15

338

Total tons

26,465

60,755

15,042

9,890

199

14,820

2,041

373

47

263

274

130,169

Total acquisition cost (TWD)

793,950,000

1,822,650,000

451,260,000

314,820,000

9,710,000

325,084,000

52,558,000

17,954,000

2,230,000

15,800,000

13,970,000

3,819,986,000

Greenpeace compared information from the Fisheries Agency and the information handed in by the Fisheries Agency to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission from

2001 to 201120 . We discovered in that period there were 606 vessels eliminated, but another 466 vessels added with capacities of an extra 8,000 net tons. Considering this, we question how effective the policies of the Fisheries Agency have been. The Agency tries to reduce the number of vessels on the books but in fact capital given to the industry allows them to enhance their fishing capacity. The Fisheries Agency must explain why it says it is reducing fishing effort when in fact it is increasing it.


Developing the distant water fishing industry：

Expenses for all the fish resource analyses, trainings for staff on the vessels, vessels operations and management, as well as conferences and seminars totaled TWD 400 million since 2002.

Enhancing the distant water fishing capacity：

Besides subsidizing gasoline costs, the Fisheries Agency also gave an extra TWD 300 million

in rewards to the industry in 2009 and 201021 due to the industry being hit by the global economic crisis, high crude oil prices and the stricter monitoring of overfishing activities, which led to lower catch numbers. By referencing other countries’ policy, the Fisheries Agency implemented reward measures to increase the competitive edge of the industry. But before the Fisheries Agency continues this kind of reward system, it should consider whether the other countries' practices could be directly applied in Taiwan. The Fisheries Agency must evaluating the current fish resources and reasonable fishing capacity before it blindly follows what others do and subsidizes the industry at large.

Subsidization during moratorium：

he concept of a moratorium originally was created to assist the industry in maintaining a set fishing capacity. However, the Fisheries Agency missed the main point: to create a sustainable framework for the industry. However, the Fisheries Agency then, began directly pouring money into vessels during the moratorium. Since 2006, a total of 154 vessels stopped fishing. But after that, they did not stop their overfishing practices in oceans with resource scarcity.

Rewarding Taiwanese to work in distant water vessels：

In order to encourage the Taiwanese to work in the distant water vessels, the Fisheries Agency subsidizes another TWD 20,000 per worker on top of the basic salary for operators of TWD 17,280 per month, which is the so-called "salary" of immigrant workers. The aim of the Fisheries Agency is to train up seaman cadres (or crew?) for the fishing industry in the long run. However, without substantial considerations given to a sustainable and steady supply of fish resources in the oceans, the result of such a policy should be called into question, as the core seaman cadres are placed in the dilemma of having well-trained skills in an unsustainable industry suffering from resource depletion and thus an uncertain future.

Graphic 5: Comparison of scrapped vessels and newly-built vessels in the Central and Western Pacific from 2001 to 2011

Types

Other small vessels

100 tons or below long-line vessels


Tuna purse-seine vessels

Vessels reduced or scrapped

Total new vessels built

Net Increase

Number

492

12

99

3

606

466

-140

Tonnage

3,751

673

32,845

3,079

40,348

48,261

7,913


08

The Observer System：

The number and role of the observer is too limited. According to investigations, observers will usually have disagreements with the operators about by-catch when filling out records such as catch quantities. About 40% of the observers come to a compromise with the operators in order to reduce conflicts, so the true figures are not reflected in these records22

The Patrolling System：

The Patrolling vessels – Patrol vessel No.1, Patrol vessel No.2 and Patrol vessel No.3 – will share their patrolling times and locations23 on the website before they start their missions and give distant water fishing vessels advanced notice. However, the Fisheries Agency did not disclose the results nor the details of the work of its three patrolling vessels on its website or in annual reports.

The management of the distant water fishing industry：

In figures shown in the Fisheries Agency’s 2010 and 2011 budgets, most of the money is used for subsidies, including subsidizing related internal and external organizations, international fishing industry planning, coordination of external affairs, adding facilities for the fishing industry, enhancing internal and external bases for the fishing industry, donations to some fishing industry foundations and financially assisting multi-lateral discussions among the fishermen. The whole budget was not set with an aim of sustainable resource management, but rather was decided in the context of affair coordination and internal cooperative planning.

3.3 Unclear assistance for resource managementThis refers to the observer and patrolling systems having limited scope and effect. Also, the budget set for the distant water fishing industry is basically put under the categories of affairs coordination and cooperative planning. These are ineffective in showing the result of resource management.

Offloading fish catch from a frozen fish tank 13/06/2011 © Greenpeace / Paul Hilton


In the context of shrinking tuna resources and the skyrocketing gasoline price, the Fisheries Agency has distorted the real competitive edge of Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry for the past 9 years. The 75% subsidies for operational costs, increasing output capacity and rewards did not improve Taiwan’s fishing industry but rather contributed to the depletion of tuna resources in the Central and Western Pacific and damaged the future economic performance of the fleets. With a lack of comprehensive plans for the sustainable development of the fishery industry, the Fisheries Agency’s policy of scrapping distant water vessels and buy-back programs were in vain. In the meantime, less than 3% of the the subsidies from the Fisheries Agency since 2002 were used in “possibly effective management of resources” to create a fish-rich future for the distant water fishing industry.

Therefore, in terms of budget setting, Greenpeace believes that the Fisheries Agency should proactively launch research technologies to estimate fish resources, key to creating sustainable reform of its distant water fishing industry. With regard to the 75% budget used for distant water fishing industry from 2002 to 2010, , the Fisheries Agency should reconsider where the money should be allocated in future budgets.

The closure of some of Pacific Commons to purse-seine fishing and forbidding the use of artificial fish aggregating devices in some periods are alone not enough restore our oceans to health. Although Taiwan had tried to comply with some international marine reserve measures in the past, the continued fishing by Taiwan of 3 out of 4 on-the-verge-of-extinction tuna species on the IUCN redlist in the WCPO is a clear sign that Taiwan must do more to reduce fishing effort and capacity. Greenpeace strongly urges Taiwan should actively support effective marine reserve measures in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission this year. These include: (1) A complete closure of some high-seas pockets in the Pacific Commons to all fishing including long-lining(2) a 50% reduction in the overall tuna fishing effort and (3) Forbidding the use of artificial fish aggregating devices in purse seine fisheries. Greenpeace believes that the restoration of fish populations is the only long term solution for the economic performance of the fishing sector of Taiwan and, along with the creation of a global network of marine reserves, key to delivering healthy, living oceans to future generations.

Conclusion and Suggestions4.

If FA fails to change its policies that encourage the over exploitation of tuna and other important marine resources, Taiwan will become a global leader in oceans destruction. 13/06/2011 © Greenpeace / Paul Hilton


10

Data collected in this research is based on the budget accounts and statements in the budget system of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan), the annual reports of the Fisheries Agency for the past 10 years, statistical reports of the Fisheries Agency, annual economic survey of the fishermen, as well as the comparison of practical implementation and budgets on the books. Cross-comparisons have also been made between practical implementations and budget data collected from various legislators.

Limitations of data collection include some budget items that have been put as sub-categories, so that researchers of this report had to extract some individual items for budget calculations. Meanwhile, some details of the budgets from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan) are simply outlines. Some details of the budgets have not been released. In addition, the Fisheries Agency moved budget items into different categories, such as the gasoline subsidy in 2005 for the distant water fishing industry, which had been put under the fishing industry development fund, instead of under the category “Public Budget”.

The budget analysis of Greenpeace in this report is divided into 3 sections, including “possibly effective resource management”, “increasing distant water fishing capacity” and “unclear assistance for resource management”.

“Possibly effective resource management” refers to the related research and management measures that can support the restoration of fish resources. But those measures need further assessment.

“Increasing distant water fishing” refers to the subsidization of the Fisheries Agency and the costs should be shouldered by the industry, so that higher profits are generated with lower operational costs. Or it means the money has been used for expanding capacities, vessel buy-back and building new vessels. These are regarded as measures unable to restore fish resources.

The definition of “unclear assistance for resource management” include policies such as the observer system and patrolling system for spotting illegal practices. These are considered to be effective resource management tools but in fact the impacts are minimal.

Lastly, the budget management of the distant water fishing industry is mainly included in “affairs coordination” and “cooperative planning”, which does not fall under the categories of effective resource management.

Methodology


Appendix

Appendix 1: Employment rate of the distant water fishing industry compared to the overall fishing industry from 1999 to 2009

Source: Annual reports of the Fishing Industry from 1999 to 2009

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Employment (Person)

9,668,000

9,784,000

9,832,000

9,969,000

10,076,000

10,240,000

10,371,000

10,522,000

10,713,000

10,853,000

10,917,000

Employment in the fishing industry (Person)

304,207

314,099

323,406

342,594

345,302

346,343

351,703

354,095

336,182

351,460

340,938

People involved in distant water fishing industry (Person)

19,859

21,274

18,386

19,338

17,878

17,619

17,157

17,287

17,406

17,396

16,287

Employment rate of the distant water fishing industry compared to the overall fishing industry

6.53%

6.77%

5.69%

5.64%

5.18%

5.09%

4.88%

4.88%

5.18%

4.95%

4.78%

Employment rate of the distant water fishing industry compared to the overall employment

0.21%

0.22%

0.19%

0.19%

0.18%

0.17%

0.17%

0.16%

0.16%

0.16%

0.15%

Appendix 2: Nearly 75% of the budget set by the Fisheries Agency is used for increasing output value

39,550,000

2,900,000

507,581,354

32,980,000

43,088,000

1,822,650,000

25,209,000

116,743,000

40,260,000

2,880,000

516,885,105

45,000

4,748,000

44,195,000

451,260,000

324,530,000

65,303,000

853,370,000

28,382,500

2,030,000

682,692,836

1,365,000

59,742,500

48,583,000

427,596,000

67,597,000

707,552,000

15,856,000

5,130,000

240,000

46,044,000

5,496,000

70,390,000

Possibly effective resource management

Increasing distant water fishing capacity

Unclear assistance for resource management

2.42%

74.39%

23.19%

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 sum percentage

Strengthen reasonable ocean fisheries management

Enhancing the International technological fisheries cooperation

Gasoline subsidy

Enhancing the operations of the distant water fishing vessels

Rewarding Taiwanese to work in the distant water fishing vessels

Subsidization for moratorium

Developing distant water fishing industry

Vessel scrapped

Vessel buy back

Observer system

Management of distant water fishing industry

Total

15,955,000

6,117,000

188,597,744

840,000

55,925,000

5,947,000

57,239,000

22,849,000

6,305,000

357,017,405

240,000

44,946,000

10,756,000

111,821,000

26,330,000

3,063,000

564,668,506

42,410,000

793,950,000

28,000,000

54,806,000

29,875,000

1,860,000

570,958,161

224,280,000

12,180,000

44,290,000

70,224,000

264,660,000

32,050,000

1,600,000

658,061,693

67,176,000

10,826,000

42,393,000

65,937,000

128,909,000

251,107,500

31,885,000

4,046,462,804

291,456,000

25,736,000

97,470,500

411,874,000

3,067,860,000

752,126,000

344,469,000

2,365,490,000

11,685,936,804

Source: Annual reports of the Fishing Industry from 1999 to 2009

Appendix 4: Gross production of various industries in Taiwan

Agriculture

Ranching

Forestry

Fishery

Mining

Manufacturing

Electricity and Gas

Water and Sewage Treatment

Construction

Wholesale and Retailing

Transportation

Hotel and Catering

Information Technology

Finance and Insurance

Real Estate

Professional, Science and Technological Services

Support Services

Public Administration and National Defense

Education

Medical and Social Services

Fine Arts, Entertainment and Leisure Services

Other Services

Total

Total in production

Discrepancies of the statistics

GDP

GDP contributions of the fishing industry

2002

152,339

11,084

2,791

28,576

67,440

2,266,757

123,318

53,186

309,864

1,807,978

353,873

205,337

354,059

769,411

846,389

197,484

110,472

867,671

500,366

343,383

87,362

298,099

10,135,863

10,439,794

4,199

10,074,337

0.00284

2003

148,465

12,125

2,145

28,839

54,435

2,495,390

130,122

59,220

297,762

1,845,364

355,933

202,018

370,124

774,129

886,959

207,123

113,495

888,961

524,252

346,073

90,334

302,595

10,746,822

11,092,136

-1,662

10,443,993

0.002761

2004

142,720

11,831

1,711

24,994

53,689

2,753,057

135,799

65,198

319,005

1,963,121

374,766

210,520

392,619

833,719

924,415

220,123

125,543

896,453

542,764

353,614

92,226

308,935

11,257,242

11,608,183

3,910

11,090,474

0.002254

2005

129,560

13,554

1,718

28,730

50,777

2,970,511

142,120

70,703

323,033

2,084,364

382,796

223,038

402,471

869,740

964,623

227,254

139,496

910,289

551,420

347,721

95,743

327,581

11,892,817

12,243,471

0

11,612,093

0.002474

2006

1142,914

20,786

1,722

32,167

39,444

3,239,070

147,526

77,454

332,438

2,188,716

394,318

234,114

415,443

891,545

1,045,155

253,492

159,842

909,713

572,723

347,436

101,238

345,561

12,592,999

12,948,282

27,703

12,243,471

0.002627

2007

134,246

20,787

1,799

35,984

47,487

3,557,193

154,092

85,662

337,509

2,318,828

412,324

243,592

430,564

946,299

1,100,855

275,257

173,724

899,194

587,898

364,543

105,328

359,834

12,709,161

13,048,895

21,786

12,975,985

0.002773

2008

136,304

21,911

1,568

33,226

42,155

3,592,538

150,076

88,210

318,794

2,370,151

414,368

239,619

451,965

925,520

1,108,549

274,076

186,309

906,340

592,131

375,414

107,775

372,162

12,494,839

12,805,733

13,202

13,070,681

0.002542

2009

136,920

22,571

1,573

26,157

44,013

3,434,604

149,522

90,406

293,166

2,340,321

399,089

236,374

467,484

854,657

1,128,623

281,907

182,752

913,920

607,204

391,764

111,361

380,451

10,135,863

10,439,794

4,199

12,818,935

0.00204

Appendix 3: Employed seamen statistics of Taiwan

Source: Survey of agriculture, fishing and ranch industries from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan) in the period 2000 to 2005.

Number of people (person)

14,557

4,491

9,042

3,122

In proportion 35.1%

35.1%

18.3%

26.1%

14.8%


22,375

16,533

16,410

11,158

In proportion 35.1%

54%

67.4%

47.3%

52.8%


4,514

3,520

9,230

6,860

In proportion 35.1%

10.9%

14.3%

26.6%

32.5%

Subtota

Distant water fishing

Subtota

Distant water fishing

Year

2000

2005

Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu

41,445

24,544

34,682

21,140

Mainland China

Total employed seamen

Other areas

substantial figures (Unit: TWD) Updated: 2010/11/18

1. West Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. (2010, May). Tuna year book. Retrieved July 22,2011, from the World Wide

Web: http://www.wcpfc.int/node/1759

2. West Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. (n.d.). Vessels on the WCPFC 'Record of Fishing Vessels' (RFV). Retrieved

July 22,2011, from the World Wide Web: http://intra.wcpfc.int/Lists/Vessels/Stats.aspx

3. Harley S, Hoyle S, Williams P, Hampton J, Kleiber P. (Eds). Stock Assessment of Bigeye Tuna in the Western and Central

Pacific Ocean. Paper presented at: SC6: Proceedings of the 6th Regular Session of the Scientific Committee for the

Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. 10 – 19th August 2010, Nukualofa, Tonga.

4. International Union for Conservation of Nature. (2011, July 7). Increased protection urgently needed for tuna. Retrieved July

22, 2011, from http://www.iucn.org/what/tpas/biodiversity/?7820/Increased-protection-urgently-needed-for-tunas

5. The Fisheries Agency (2010) about the survey of the distant water fishing operators 2009. The information is taken from the

agency response to questions by the legislators on 17th May 2011.

6. The Fisheries Agency (2006) Management and restructuring of the distant water fishing industry. Information is taken on

22nd July 2011.

http://www.fa.gov.tw/pages/detail.aspx?Node=211&Page=15074&Index=8

7. Chen Yanqi (2008) Measures to tackle the rising gasoline price for Taiwan’s fishing industry. Information taken on 22nd July

2011. http://www.coa.gov.tw/view.php?catid=17820

8. Huang Xulei (14th July 2008) A distant water fishing operator who told the Liberty Times, “the future is blurred”.

Information was taken on 22nd July 2011. http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2008/new/jul/14/today-south3.htm

9. Appendix 1: Employment rate of the distant water fishing industry to the overall fishing industry from 1999 to 2009.

10.Appendix 3: Employed seaman statistics in Taiwan

11.The Fisheries Agency (2010) about the survey for the distant water fishing industry (2009). Information was taken when the

agency responded to the legislators on 17th May 2011.

12. Lin Zhengfeng (9th November 2004) who told a Taiwan magazine Businesstoday,"How to look for miracles in

the corrupted oceans”. Information was taken on 22nd July 2011.

http://www.businesstoday.com.tw/v1/content.aspx?a=W20041109248&p=4

13. Wan Niansheng (9th May 2011) who told Taiwan magazine BusinessWeekly, “One fish is priced at TWD 10 but he poured

in TWD 2 billion to buy a fishing vessel”. Information was taken on 22nd July 2011.

http://www.businessweekly.com.tw/webarticle.php?id=43254&p=3

Reference

Only effective international conservation measures can restore the ocean’s health and ensure a stable ground for Taiwan’s fishing industry. 13/06/2011 © Greenpeace / Paul Hilton

14. http://ebas1.ebas.gov.tw/pxweb/Dialog/statfile9L.asp

15. http://www.mofa.gov.tw/webapp/ct.asp?xItem=45816&CtNode=2174&mp=1

16. The above list is based on the budget information from the Fisheries Agency. The calculations do not include subsidizations f

rom other government commissions or local governments, for example, the construction of a distant water fishing hub for

TWD 7 billion and the construction of an ultra-low temperature distant water fishing factory, with a subsidy from the Kaohsiung

government of TWD 40 million and other private investors.

17. West Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. (n.d.). Vessels on the WCPFC 'Record of Fishing Vessels' (RFV). Retrieved July

22,2011,

from the World Wide Web: http://intra.wcpfc.int/Lists/Vessels/Stats.aspx

18. The Fisheries Agency: Subsidization of TWD 500 million for the operations of the distant water fishing industry. Information

was taken on 22nd July 2011.


19. Zhang Xixuan (2009) An evaluation of the conflicts between observers and the operators. National Sun Yat-sen University

Institute of Marine Affairs

20. The Fisheries Agency enhances the implementation of patrolling work in the North of Pacific Ocean in the fishing

seasons. Information was taken on 22nd July 2011 from the Fisheries Agency.


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Net loss-How Taiwan subsidizes tuna depletion