On June 19, the Fisheries Agency and the Ocean Affairs Council jointly inspected the catch of the vessel Jin Maan Fa No. 66 while it was docked at Nanfang'ao Fishing Port and found 6.5 tons of blue shark fins hidden in the cabin. It is suspected that the fins were cut off and the bodies discarded because of their lower market price and the space they take on the vessel. Based on the weight of fins found, EAST estimates that about 2,000 to 3,000 blue sharks were killed.

This is not the first time Jin Maan Fa No. 66 has been caught shark finning. In 2021, the ship was reported for using the practice of cutting fins and discarding bodies on 13 tons of sharks. The vessel operator was fined NTD 5 million and their fishing license was suspended for 16 months, while the crew was fined of NTD 600,000 and had their seafarer's handbooks and practice certificates confiscated for 16 months.

The Fisheries Agency has repeatedly stated that it has zero tolerance for illegal shark finning. Despite this, paragraphs 2, 3, and 4 of the Article 41 of the Act for Distant Water Fisheries stipulate that vessels must commit the same offence at least twice within a single year or three times within any period before their license, seafarers' books, or officers' certificates are permanently revoked. Jin Maan Fa No. 66’s second shark finning offence took place outside of this two-year period, meaning it is not possible to revoke its fishing license.

Sharks evolved more than 400 million years ago (Bräutigam et al. 2015). They appeared on the earth earlier than some extinct dinosaurs, and they play a crucial role in the evolution and balance of marine ecology. However, due to over-exploitation by humans, many shark species are in danger of extinction.

A systematic analysis led by Professor Nicholas Dulvy, former co-chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Shark Expert Group, pointed out that cartilaginous fishes face a greater extinction crisis than all other major vertebrates so far, with the exception of amphibians (Dulvy et al. 2014). Dulvy’s 2014 report was authored by 302 experts from 64 countries examined 1,041 cartilaginous fishes (sharks, rays and chimaeras) around the world. The report concluded that global shark populations face significant threats due to overfishing of target fisheries and bycatch in non-target fisheries, global shark populations face significant threats, resulting in 181 out of 1,041 species of cartilaginous fish being endangered.

In 2021, Professor Nicholas Dulvy and other scholars conducted another global reassessment of 1,199 species using the same cartilaginous fishes as the previous assessment. The results showed that the number of threatened species was twice as high as in the first global assessment in 2014. 391 species of cartilaginous fishes are on the verge of extinction, and overfishing is the main driver of this threat.

Between 1950 and 2003, global catches of sharks and rays increased by 2.27 times, demonstrating the significance of the threat (Davidson et al. 2015, pp. 3). A 2006 study of Hong Kong shark fin trade data by British and American scientists found that the fins of at least 40 to 70 million sharks are used in shark fin soup every year. Such demand has caused shark populations to plummet at an alarming rate in the past half century. Of particular concern, ovoviviparous sharks mature slowly, have a long reproductive period, and produce very few offspring. They usually only give birth to one to two baby sharks every one to three years, and it takes a long time for the eggs to reach adulthood.

Despite the collapse of the global shark population, Jin Maan Fa No. 66 has repeatedly violated and circumvented the law by engaging in shark finning. According to Article 41 of the Act for Distant Water Fisheries and the "Standards for Cases Violating Shark Catch Requirements in Distant Waters," operators face a maximum fine of NT$3.1 million and 24 months of license revocation for repeat offences. However, fishing licenses cannot be revoked regardless of the gravity of the offence.

Taiwan's has the world’s third largest distant water fisheries fleet. In the past few decades, it has been repeatedly boycotted and sanctioned by the international community for illegal fishing in distant waters, shark finning, and poor labor rights. In recent years, after the Fisheries Agency and the Legislative Yuan enacted three laws relating to distant water fisheries, strengthening regulations and enforcement, the poor reputation has gradually been eradicated. The Fisheries Agency has repeatedly stated that it has zero tolerance for illegal shark finning. However, due to the traditional Chinese myth of "no feast without fins", the demand for shark fin has seen fishermen ignoring sharks’ endangered status by pursuing profits on fins and breaking the law.

Faced with fishing vessels that are unwilling to comply with the prohibition on shark finning, which damages marine ecology and the image of Taiwan’s fisheries, EAST has partnered with international organizations to launch the following appeal:

The Legislative Yuan and the Fisheries Agency swiftly amend Article 41 of the Taiwanese Act for Distant Water Fisheries to prevent fishing vessels from evading the recidivism period, and follow in the footsteps of the United States Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act by prohibiting the removal of shark fins at sea (sec. 307. [16 U.S.C. 1857] Prohibited Acts). The government should enforce a zero tolerance policy for shark finning, and immediately revoke fishing licenses upon the first violation.

We also call on the Fisheries Agency to investigate the electronic catch report and the vessel monitoring system (VMS) of Jin Maan Fa No. 66 – during its voyage between February 27 and June 19 – to identify whether there are major violations, as stipulated in Article 13, Paragraphs 3 and 12 of the Act for Distant Water Fisheries. Major violations include serious falsehoods in fishing logs or catch reporting information; unauthorized transshipment, abnormal proximity to other fishing vessels indicating transshipment at sea without permission from the competent authority, transshipment in a port, or unloading at a port without permission from the competent authorities, etc. Finally, there should be a thorough investigation to determine if other fishing vessels are also involved in shark finning, in order to set the record straight.

Signatories

• Environmental Justice Foundation （EJF, UK）
• Fish Welfare Initiative（FWO, UK）
• Seafood Legacy（SFL, Japan）
• Aquatic Life Institute （ALI, US）
• Actions for Dolphins（Australia）
• Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals（Netherlands）
• Animal Wellness Institute（US）
• Voices for Animals（Russia）
• Shark Guardian (UK)

Media contact

Kim Fabri, International Affairs Specialist

Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST)

Mobile: +886 (9) 7812 7616