Greenpeace warns EU to maintain pressure on Taiwan over illegal fishing

Sydney, 28 October 2015 - The European Union must maintain pressure on Taiwan to clean up its fisheries industry after the government imposed a weak penalty on a Taiwanese fishing longliner with illegally caught tuna and shark fins in the Pacific, Greenpeace said today.

The Taiwan Fisheries Agency (TFA) announced it will suspend the license of the Taiwanese-flagged Shuen De Ching No. 888 for eight months and fine the vessel TWD 150,000 (around US$4,600) after finding it had illegally caught and finned sharks, including the protected silky shark species. Greenpeace activists busted the ship last month and alerted the TFA after finding 95 kilograms of illegally caught shark fins aboard.

“The TFA’s penalty is inadequate and lower than the penalties imposed by other countries on vessels that have been caught fishing illegally. This sends the message that illegal Taiwanese fishing vessels, if caught, will only get a slap on the wrist,” said Ning Yen, Greenpeace East Asia Oceans Campaigner.

“Internationally, it is the norm that illegal fishing fines are up to five times the value of the catch. The penalties imposed on this ship are nowhere near this, and are unacceptable. Furthermore, Greenpeace activists found evidence that transshipment of catch had taken place on the SD888, which the TFA has yet to fully investigate,” she said.

Besides suspected transshipment activity on the SD888, Ms. Yen said there are pending investigations into unaccounted catch, falsification of the ship’s logbook and the captain’s admission that fish had been transferred to another vessel.

The EU earlier this month issued Taiwan with a ‘yellow card’ - a precursor to an import ban - for failing to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing the Pacific and other oceans.

“The EU must not be blinded by this weak fine, which shows that Taiwan still has a long way to go towards curbing illegal fishing in the Pacific. As such, we call on the EU to maintain its pressure on Taiwan to stop this activity.

“With the largest fishing fleet in the Pacific, Taiwan has a special responsibility to lead by example when it comes to stopping the illegal fishing that is devastating fish stocks and local economies.

“Taiwan has 1,300 vessels operating in the Pacific, and the case of the SD888 is just a tip of the iceberg. We urge Taiwan to be transparent and to publicly declare all other illegal cases to show the severity of illegal fishing.

“We also want to see broader reform of Taiwan’s fisheries industry and legislation governing it. We have provided a policy brief to the government that would place Taiwan as a leader in fisheries management if it was adopted.

“It is time for Taiwan to choose whether it wants to reward illegal fishing, or to truly clamp down on this activity,” said Ms. Yen.

ENDS

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