In Pingtung, Taiwan, fishing boats for black tuna have successively docked in port. (Courtesy of the author of this article)
A few days ago, I went to Pingtung, Taiwan, and I was catching fishing boats catching black tuna. Although there was no grand event waiting for the "first tuna" auction in Pingtung, the delicious and tender black tuna fillets were really fascinating. When I went to Taipei, I knew on TV that this year's Pingtung "first tuna" was caught by the Donggang fishing boat "Yulaiman No. 6". After measuring a total weight of 206 kg and a length of 210 cm, the total price of NT$8,600 per kilogram and a total price of NT$1,771,600 was awarded by Donggang Jiazhen Seafood Store, breaking the historical record of NT$7,800 per kilogram in 2004.
The annual "first tuna" auction is a grand ceremony for the fishing port. With the cheerful dance of the samba girls, the shouts of prices were everywhere. In 2004, a woman came to the auction, happily followed the shouting price, shouted all the way to 7800 yuan, only to know that it was the "auction price per kilogram", weighing 284 kilograms of "first tuna" worth more than NT$2.21 million, frightened. The Fishery Association urgently coordinated the resolution of the oolong, but the unit price of the "first tuna" also maintained the highest record for 14 years.
Black tuna is a high-economy seafood that is said to sell for up to $100,000 at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo, Japan. However, for fishermen in Pingtung, high value is often accompanied by high risk.
On March 22, 2018, a spokesman for the Philippines' Northern Luzon Military Region announced that the Philippines would build a naval base on Yami Island, just 98 kilometers from Taiwan's Xiaolan Island, "to defend its maritime territory during the peak season of 'fishing banditry'." "Fishing theft" is the Philippines' special name for Taiwanese fishermen fishing in areas where the Philippines and the "exclusive economic zone" of the Taiwan region overlap. There is a serious overlap between the Taiwan region and the 200-nautical-mile "exclusive economic zone" designated by the Philippines in accordance with the international law of the sea, and the Bataan Islands and other areas where Taiwan fishermen have been fishing for generations are located in the "overlapping areas". The concentration of black tuna that Taiwanese fishermen focus on is in the waters off Yami Island. Yami Island is an uninhabited island with an area of only 1.2 square kilometers, and it is also a place for Taifi fishermen to take shelter from the wind and waves in bad weather. Every year in April and May, Taiwanese fishing boats from Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung risk being caught by the Philippine Coast Guard to catch black tuna in the waters of Yami Island.
On May 9, 2013, the "Guangxing 28" from Xiaoliuqiu in Pingtung encountered a Philippine official ship while fishing for black tuna in the "Taiwan-Philippines Overlapping Waters" about 180 nautical miles southeast of Eluanbi. Taiwanese fishermen know that if they are caught by a Philippine official vessel, they will be fined and bankrupt at worst, and sentenced to prison. The 65-year-old captain, Hong Shicheng, activated autopilot mode and led the three crew members to escape into the engine room under the fishing boat to take shelter. Philippine official ships frantically chased after 108 bullets in 75 minutes, of which 45 shots hit the engine room, and Hong Shicheng was shot and killed.
Therefore, for Taiwanese fishermen, the high-economic value black tuna must not only fight the bad weather of the ocean, but also escape the brutal law enforcement of Philippine official ships. By turning Yami Island into a naval base, Taiwanese fishermen have not only lost a haven from the wind and rain, but are more likely to lose their traditional fishing grounds, and protection from the authorities is even more important.
However, Taiwan's DPP authorities seem to have little willingness to hold up a protective umbrella for fishermen.
Taiwan's economic growth in recent years has been weak, and limited funds have to be busy paying protection fees for "US military purchases", resulting in insufficient maritime law enforcement forces. Taiwan's "Coast Guard" lacks 200 nautical miles of surveillance and patrol capability, and in accordance with the "Forward-Looking Development Plan for the Preparation of Sea Cruisers," it adopts the configuration of the Navy's Tuojiang River vessel to build a coastal patrol vessel. However, the Tuojiang warship's small tonnage and wave resistance are insufficient, and they can only patrol the "overlapping waters of Taiwan and the Philippines" when the sea conditions are stable in summer. The current DPP authorities have persuaded fishermen to work at 20 degrees north latitude and north of the Bataan Islands, and the rights and interests of Taiwan fishermen have been severely damaged.
In addition, more importantly, since the DPP authorities came to power, they have economically avoided "dependence on a single economy", that is, economically "detached from China" and implemented the "New Southbound Policy", and the Philippines is the planned fulcrum country. Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly claimed that the Philippines is an important partner of Taiwan and "hopes to deepen interaction at all levels in the future." In April 2017, the DPP's public opinion representatives initiated the establishment of the "Philippines-Taiwan Parliamentary Association" to carry out the so-called "substantive diplomacy between the Philippines and Taiwan". In December 2017, the Taiwan region and the Philippines signed an "investment guarantee agreement", which is only a private investment agreement, but the Taiwan authorities regard it as a major breakthrough in "diplomacy" with the Philippines, and now they are vainly trying to sign an "economic cooperation agreement" between the two sides. In order to confront the mainland, how could the DPP authorities offend the Philippines for the sake of the fishermen's little interests and sabotage the hard-won achievements of the "New Southbound"? Compared with the Ma Ying-jeou period, the DPP authorities have significantly weakened their law enforcement efforts in "overlapping areas," and it is not surprising that the Philippines has not signed the word for the construction of a naval base on Jami Island.
However, the weakness of the Taiwan authorities did not bring in exchange for concessions from the Philippines. In 2016, Japan provided the Philippines with 10 coast guard boats, which were fast and long-range, and were all deployed by the Philippines to the northern waters to enforce the law in conjunction with the Hamilton-class patrol ships that had been imported from the United States earlier. The Taiwan authorities restrict fishermen from operating at 20 degrees north latitude, but Philippine law enforcement vessels often cross 20 degrees north latitude to enforce the law, and incidents of arresting and severely punishing Taiwan fishing boats have occurred from time to time.
What is certain is that as long as the DPP authorities do not recognize the "1992 Consensus" and the "magic obstacle" of countering cross-strait economic integration and development with a "new southbound" in their hearts remains, Taiwan will be taken by countries such as the Philippines, and the rights and interests of Taiwan's fishermen can only be sacrificed before the so-called "down-to-earth diplomacy" of the Yellow Emperor's new clothes.
It's just that the black tuna in the waters of Yami Island will come on time every year, taiwanese fishermen, do you still have an appointment? Can the annual "first tuna" spectacle continue? (Taiwan Network Special Author: and ten)
(This article is a contribution from netizens and does not represent the views of Taiwan.com)