Precious coral fisheries management in Taiwan--Past, present & future

Taiwan used to have the biggest precious coral fisheries industry in the world. However, due to changes in the fishery, including increased fishing restrictions and the replacement of obsolete vessels, the scale of the industry had been gradually reduced since 1979. Unfortunately, the initiative proved to be poorly managed and resulted in an increase in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) coral fishing. This forced the government to review and amend the precious coral fisheries management regulations, which had been in place for decades. The Taiwanese government introduced stringent monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) management methods, already used in deep water fisheries, as a precautionary approach. At the same time, an investigation and evaluation of existing resources was carried out. Together, these initiatives were introduced in order to encourage the domestic industry to adopt the concept of ecosystem-based fishery management. This paper reviews the development of precious coral fisheries management in Taiwan, discusses the causes of illegal coral fisheries and looks at the reasons for adjustments to the current management system. Further issues that need to be resolved will also be discussed based on the relative success of the management implementation following the adjustments. Finally, research topics and priority initiatives will be proposed for the future management of Taiwan's precious coral fisheries.