Net Loss: How Taiwan Subsidizes Tuna 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 in the fishing industry.
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 fishermen 10 . 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 2009 11 , “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 billion 12 .” In addition, a fishing corporation official commented that, “the most expensive American made frozen purse-seine costs TWD 500 million 13 .” 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 GDP 14 since 2002, though its productive value accounts for 46% 15 of the overall fishing industry.
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
