wild places | wild happenings | wild news
make a difference for our wild places

home | links | search the site
  all articles latest | past | articles by topics | search wildnews
wild news on wildsingapore
  WWF 26 Jul 06
Managing Taiwan's whale shark trade

Taipei, Taiwan -- By implementing the world's first whale shark harvest and monitoring system, Taiwan will halve its whale shark harvest quota from 60 to 30 individuals by 2008.

Although listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a status which strictly regulates the trade of the species based on quotas and permits to prevent their unsustainable use, whale sharks continue to be harvested for a variety of products, including their meat, liver oil and fins.

"Taiwan's announcement is an important step towards a long-term management of the fishery," said Joyce Wu of TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, a joint programme of WWF and IUCN-the World Conservation Union.

"This, however, may not be enough to ensure a sustainable future for the species, especially while unreported catch may continue to be entering domestic markets through unofficial channels."

According to Taiwan's customs statistics, no imports of whale shark have taken place in the past five years. However, during TRAFFIC's research on the management of trade of whale sharks in Taiwan in 2001, some retailers claimed Indonesia and Hainan Island, China to be source areas for some of the whale shark meat on sale in Taiwan.

Taiwan has been identified as possibly the world's largest market for whale shark meat. According to TRAFFIC, 32.5 metric tonnes of meat reportedly obtained from legal harvests in 2004 corresponds poorly with the 68.5 metric tonnes of meat reported as sold the same year in just two of the major wholesale fishery markets in Taipei and Taichung.

"There is an underlying concern for the illegal whale shark trade in Taiwan," added Wu. "Such a marked discrepancy between domestic catch data and the volume of whale shark meat on domestic markets indicates a considerable volume of imports of fish caught elsewhere, or substantial under-reporting of the catch."

In efforts to combat the illegal trade, TRAFFIC is calling on the Taiwanese government to improve regulation and enforcement efforts related to the whale shark trade in Taiwan.

"Extra vigilance is now necessary as a change in harvesting quotas can potentially increase the pressure on illegal imports," said Wu. "It is crucial to closely monitor the markets and continuously assess the trade trends. A transparent auction and shipping system would assist further in efforts to stop illegal activities and in ensuring a sustainable future for this giant of the sea."

END NOTES:

The whale shark ( Rhincodon typus ) is the world's largest living fish, measuring up to 14m and weighing in at 125 tons. Despite its name and enormous size, the whale shark is not a whale, but classified in a family of its own--Rhincodontidae --with its closest relatives being leopard sharks and nurse sharks.

Countries such as Belize, India, Maldives, the Philippines, Seychelles and Thailand have prohibited whale shark harvesting.

Harvest regulations for whale shark were established in Taiwan in 2002, with an initial quota of 80 fish, decreased to 60 in 2006. Violation of the harvest regulation is punishable with fines of up to TWD150,000 (US$4,600) or imprisonment for up to three years. Failure to report on harvest is punishable with fines of TWD15,000?75,000 (US$460?2,300).
links
Related articles on Wild shores
about the site | email ria
  News articles are reproduced for non-profit educational purposes.
 

website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com