To enforce responsible deep-sea fishing, the COA continued to strengthen deep-sea fishery management and prevent illegal fishing activities. In accordance with various international fishery management regulations, the COA continues to restructure deep-sea fishery by scrapping 183 large tuna longliners in three years.
To conserve coastal fishing resources, efforts were taken to restore coastal resources and encourage an environment-friendly coastal fisheries. Various types of artificial fish reefs, with a total of 130,000 cubic meters, were constructed, and 4.24 million seabream and other fry released. Gradually strict restrictions were placed on fishing for species that are integral to the environment such as larval anchovy, corals, flying fish roe, and whale sharks. To reduce the footprint of aquaculture on soil and water, water recycling technology for aquaculture was extended to 70 fish farms in 2007. Moreover, irrigation and drainage facilities in 47 aquacultural sites in Pingtung County were improved.
To ensure the safety of fishing crews and their vessels and prevent overfishing, the COA established a standard operation procedure and cooperated with the Coast Guard Administration (CGA), and assisted installing the vessel monitoring system (VMS) to track non-compliant fishing vessels. The subsidies vessel fuel was rationed in accordance with the actual hours of fishing at sea to ensure fairness. Moreover, to prevent fuel abuse, spot checks were made. The illegal cases uncovered in 2007 included 17 fishing vessels, 4 oil tankers, 7 oil storage facilities, and 107 oil tanker trucks.
The headquarters of the Fisheries Agency was moved to Kaohsiung City on October 22, 2007, and officially inaugurated on October 29, 2007. The agency maintains a branch office in Taipei City.
