Taiwan is environmentally suitable for the development of fisheries. The shallow waters along the shores are ideal for the cultivation of edible aquatic plants and various edible invertebrate animals and fishes. In the surrounding waters, both benthonic and nektonic fishes abound the whole year round.
The Japanese became aware of the potential wealth of Taiwan's fishery industries many years ago. During the reign of the Japanese, many fishery schools, research laboratories, ice factories and shipyards were established. Unfortunately, many of these establishments were destroyed during World War II.
Since the end of the war, however, nearly all of the destroyed establishments have been rehabilitated, although the number of fishing boats is still smaller than that of the pre-war period. Naturally, the production is still below the figure established during the reign of the Japanese.
To revive the fishing industry, the Fisheries Bureau was organized by the provincial government under the Department of Agriculture and Forestry in 1951. In 1952 a Fishery Production Committee was set up by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The former is a purely administrative organization while the latter is concerned with the supervision of the fishing industries and the boosting of fisheries production. The members of this committee are composed of both Americans and Chinese and enjoys the service of an American expert engaged by MSA. A plan drafted by this committee envisages an increase of 28,100 metric tons of fish in 1952, or a total of 125,324,681 kgs, a figure that far exceeds that of the peak year during the reign of the Japanese.
Table 1 shows the production figures of Taiwan in 1945-51. As can be seen, the production figure for 1945 was only 6,862,066 kgs. In 1946, the figure showed a slight increase, and in 1951, the production figure came to 97,224,681 kgs. This last figure, which represents only 81% of that of 1940, is derived from two main sources, namely, sea fishing and fish culture, the latter representing only 20.7% of the total.
| Table 1 - FISH PRODUCTION (unit: kgs.) | |||||
| Year | Coastal Fishery | Inshore Fishery | Deep-sea Fishery | Fish Culture | Total |
| 1945 | 8,952,304 | 2,599,654 | 68,307 | 5,241,801 | 16,862,066 |
| 1946 | 16,949,292 | 21,822,916 | 2,731,406 | 9,970,016 | 51,473,630 |
| 1947 | 27,810,406 | 16,467,402 | 3,370,542 | 14,849,702 | 92,138,052 |
| 1948 | 31,342,702 | 19,674,620 | 7,193,506 | 25,316,161 | 83,526,989 |
| 1949 | 31,456,952 | 20,232,403 | 5,205,356 | 23,476,071 | 80,370,782 |
| 1950 | 26,048,034 | 21,457,809 | 12,011,480 | 24,688,804 | 84,206,127 |
| 1951 | 36,518,856 | 24,426,856 | 16,147,708 | 20,132,086 | 97,224,683 |
Fishing in Taiwan is divided into three categories: coastal fishing and deep-sea or offshore fishing. The rehabilitation of coastal fishery since the end of the war has been the most rapid one. Although coastal fishing was responsible for only 3,952,304 kgs. in 1945, the figure rose to 27,810,406 kgs. in 1948, or an increase of 118% over that of 1940. In 1951, the figure was boosted to 155% of that of 1940. Inshore fishing is also recovering very rapidly. The 1951 production figure of 24,426,031 kgs. represents 87% of that of 1940.
Deep sea fishing in still lagging behind, its 1951 production figure being only 28% of that of 1940.
Fishery production, as may be expected, is largely dependent upon the condition of the fishing boats. Table 2 shows that fishing boats of different varieties have shown a substantial increase both in number and tonnage. The number of non-powered boats and bamboo carriers has exceeded that of the pre-war period while the number of powered boats is smaller than that of the pre-war period.
| Table 2 - FISHING BOATS | |||||||
| Powered Boats | Non-powered Boats | Bamboo | |||||
| Year | Number | Tonnage (gross ton) | Power (H. P.) | Number | Tonnage (60 kgs.) | Carrier Number | Total Number |
| 1945 | 697 | 8,899.07 | 19,812 | 5,000 | 61,735.12 | 7,595 | 13,292 |
| 1946 | 1,042 | 11,444.67 | 26,462 | 5,922 | 66,704.00 | 8,038 | 15,002 |
| 1947 | 1,158 | 13,540.65 | 26,249 | 5,794 | 79,258.00 | 10,014 | 16,966 |
| 1948 | 1,282 | 15,696.00 | 29,104 | 6,105 | 106,344.00 | 13,404 | 20,791 |
| 1949 | 1,371 | 19,731.23 | 35,936 | 6,111 | 94,774.00 | 12,642 | 20,124 |
| 1950 | 1,349 | 21,511.93 | 38,645 | 6,558 | 109,902.00 | 13,468 | 20,016 |
| *1951 | 1,521 | 22,932.35 | 7,685 | 7,618.43 | 15,770 | 23,455 | |
| * Based on the Statistics of October. | |||||||
Fish culture is also divided into two categories, namely, fresh water culture and marine culture. The chief product of marine culture is the milkfish, although small quantities of oysters and other marine products are also cultivated. Table 3 indicates that both the culture area and the quantity of production have been increased since the end of the war. Many of the marshes along the shore are suitable for the culture of fish fry. Milkfish production could be greatly increased with a sufficient supply of fry. The main fishes cultivated in fresh-water pones are the Ctenopharyngodon, Mylopharynogondon, Hypophthalmichithys and Carasus.
| Table 3 - PRODUCTS OF MARINE CULTURE | ||||||||
| Oyster | Milk Fish | Others | Total | |||||
| Year | Area (ha) | Quantity (kg) | Area (ha) | Quantity (kg) | Area (ha) | Quantity (kg) | Area (ha) | Quantity (kg) |
| 1945 | 2,066.67 | 770,971 | 6,067.25 | 3,005,639 (*10,000) | 1,688.86 | 365,240 | 9,722.78 | 4,141,850 (*10,000) |
| 1946 | 2,509.53 | 1,124,650 | 6,465.17 | 5,766,080 | 5,023.80 | 894,529 | 13,998.50 | 7,785,259 |
| 1947 | 2,573.37 | 2,337,715 | 8,697.85 | 8,190,088 | 1,419.88 | 881,141 | 12,991.10 | 11,408,944 |
| 1948 | 4,305.87 | 5,383,206 | 10,599.74 | 13,078,284 | 2,070.47 | 2,065,967 | 16,976.08 | 20,527,466 |
| 1949 | 3,303.12 | 3,067,209 | 11,154.22 | 13,348,029 | 1,777.68 | 2,577,660 | 16,235.02 | 18,992,808 |
| 1950 | 3,380.92 | 3,124,229 | 13,034.23 | 15,359,992 | 76.82 | 809,597 | 16,541.97 | 20,293,818 |
| Note: * number of fish. | ||||||||
The fry of the first three specimens come from the mainland, and are shipped to Taiwan by air every year. These fry are very expensive and are not easy to secure at present. The production of fresh water fish has shown an increase in recent years as table 4 indicates. The difficulty of securing fish fry, however, will hinder its development hereafter. The total production of fish culture in 1951 amounted to 192% of that of 1940, but it compares rather unfavorably with that of 1949. This year, the Fisheries Bureau will try to introduce Telapia fry to the farmers far culturing in rice fields.
| Table 4 - PRODUCTS OF FRESH WATER CULTURE | ||||||||
| Hypophthalmichithys Fish | Ctenopharyngodon "Chao" Fish | Others | Total | |||||
| Year | Area (ha) | Quantity (kg) | Area (ha) | Quantity (kg) | Area (ha) | Quantity (kg) | Area (ha) | Quantity (kg) |
| 1945 | 221.54 | 67,048 | 130.61 | 48,771 | 5,643.21 | 984,132 | 5,995.36 | 1,099,951 |
| 1946 | 2,176.62 | 146,479 | 36.51 | 72,640 | 4,623.67 | 1,945,638 | 6,836.80 | 2,184,757 |
| 1947 | 5,273.62 | 476,798 | 179.04 | 367,010 | 82.42 | 2,596,950 | 5,535.08 | 3,440,758 |
| 1948 | 5,273.62 | 749,660 | 160.54 | 688,289 | 5,887.04 | 3,350,746 | 11,294.20 | 4,788,695 |
| 1949 | 2,485.25 | 810,115 | 2,772.13 | 687,831 | 4,061.06 | 2,985,227 | 10,318.44 | 4,483,173 |
| 1950 | 283.55 | 693,507 | 301.06 | 534,631 | 10,748.09 | 3,165,848 | 11,332.70 | 4,393,986 |
Generally speaking, fishery production is on the increase. With the solution of the fish-fry supply problem, and the improvement of deep sea fishing methods, the increase will be even more heartening. Experts were called upon to explore the possibility of increasing the supply of the fry of the milkfish this spring. It was also proposed that fry should be purchased from the Philippines or Indonesia. Fry merchants, too, are encouraged to secure fresh water fish fry from Hongkong.
To improve deep-sea fishery, the Ship Building Company of the National Resources Commission has tried to build wooden fishing boats with iron frames. Two 75-ton vessels of this kind have been built successfully and equipped with cold storage facilities in 1950. Other shipyards also are able to build bull-trawlers up to 75 tons, and the Taiwan Fishery Rehabilitation Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs has allocated more than N.T.$700,000 to build a slipway especially for the construction and repair of fishing boats. Many big ice factories in Keelung and Kaohsiung, the two largest fishing centers, have been rebuilt, and many new ice factories and warehouses with cold storage facilities have been established. A well-equipped processing factory has been established at Kaohsiung to facilitate the distribution of fishery products. A difficulty that remains to be solved is that of the shortage of fishing harbors. A fishing harbor surveying team was organized this year to bring about the improvement of harbor facilities for the fishing industry throughout the whole province.
The lack of fishing personnel is another factor that limits the development of deep-sea fishing. To remedy the situation, training classes have been organized. It is also planned to establish a marine college this year.
Since the total production cannot meet the home demand, large amounts of fishery products are being imported each year. In 1950, the total import amounted to NT$17,336,014, while the export came to only NT$76,84I. The various imported and exported products are shown in table 5 & 6.
| Table 5 - IMPORT OF FISHERY AND SEA PRODUCTS, 1950 | |||
| Article | Unit | Quantity | Value NT$ |
| Seaweed, Long | Quintals | 84 | 56,939 |
| Seaweed, other kinds, and Agar-agar | Kilogrs. | 2,174 | 4,262 |
| Awabi, in bulk | " | 52 | 1,434 |
| Bicho de Mar | " | 2,278 | 17,969 |
| Compoy | " | 25,354 | 464,445 |
| Fish, Cuttle | " | 1,072,703 | 3,567,676 |
| Fish, Cod, Dried (incl. Boneless) | Quintals | 514 | 105,114 |
| Fish, Dried and Smoked | " | 28,501 | 3,297,498 |
| Fish, Fresh | " | 2 | 1,038 |
| Fish, Salted Herring | " | 56,148 | 4,365,405 |
| Fish, Salted, n.o.r. | " | 66,463 | 5,007,841 |
| Mussels, Oysters, and Clams, Dried | Kilogrs. | 1,506 | 3,663 |
| Prawns ana Shrimps, Dried, in bulk | " | 19,443 | 119,699 |
| Fishery and Sea products, n.o.r. | " | 51,262 | 323,081 |
| Table 6 - EXPORT OF FISHERY AND SEA PRODUCTS, 1950 | |||
| Article | Unit | Quantity | Value NT$ |
| Fish, Cuttle | Quintals | 32 | 8,050 |
| Fishery and Sea products, n.o.r. | " | 156 | 68,431 |
In order to secure an adequate supply of animal protein for the army and the civilian population and also to lessen the gap between import and export, emphasis has been laid on the improvement of both inshore and deep-sea fishing, the two kinds of fishing that have yet to reach the level of the peak year. Since the development of these two kinds of fishing requires considerable capital, a plan has been drafted to cooperate with the Japanese. Before long, a Sino-Japanese fishing company is expected to be established in Taiwan.