The Taiwan Fisheries Agency has been condemned by Greenpeace for failing to provide an accurate number of Flag of Convenience (FOC) vessels operated by its industry.
According to the NGO, massive enforcement failures by Taiwan of its legislation means up to 70% of the FOC vessels are currently evading national laws.
It has released a report, ‘The Inconvenient Truth of Taiwan’s Flags of Convenience’, on the eve of a Technical Compliance Committee Meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in Phonapei, which Greenpeace said “urgently needs to recommend tougher regulations to halt the decline of the valuable Pacific tuna fisheries”.
Greenpeace’s investigation found 343 FOC vessels of which only 108 have adhered to the legislation requiring them to register their operations with Taiwan authorities. The fines for evading the legislation could bring $8.5 million (€6.3 million) to Taiwan if pursued.
Another 41 vessels were identified as suspect FOC vessels requiring further investigation by authorities.
“Even though Taiwan is one of the few places to even have legislation meant to control fishing under flags of convenience it is alarming the tuna industry evades even the simplest registrations. This underlines the need for regional action in the Pacific to better regulate the fleets and clamp down on pirate fishing and wasteful practices,” said Yu Fen Kao of Greenpeace.
Greenpeace also exposed 16 cases of pirate fishing in 2009 and 2010, which it said are linked to the Taiwanese fishing industry.
“In order to rescue the declining Pacific tuna stocks, key areas or “pockets” of international waters in the Pacific , vulnerable to pirate fishing must be closed to all fishing activities and the wasteful use of fish aggregation devices (FADs) in purse seine fishing banned,” said Kao.
