In the 1950s, Taiwan started exporting elvers, or young eels, caught along its west coast to aquaculture operators in Japan. Seventeen years later, Japanese fish farming know-how was used to establish the island’s first breeding operations in Central Taiwan’s Changhua County. Using elvers caught locally and imported from Japan, Taiwan’s industry started to take off—a process further hastened by technological developments in this field.
With the island a leading supplier to Japan in the 1980s and early 1990s, its share of the market reached an all-time high of 70 percent in 1993, contributing US$605 million to Taiwan’s economy. By 2007, eel was the nation’s No. 1 farmed fish in terms of export value, accounting for 13.3 percent that year. This was followed by tilapia at 5.3 percent and milkfish at 1.3 percent. Today, a total of 2,313 hectares is dedicated to eel farming, with more than 90 percent of production shipped to Japan.
“Taiwan is the perfect location for eel aquaculture, better than any other country in Asia,” said Kuo Chou-in, president of Taiwan Eel Farming Industry Development Foundation. According to Kuo, the optimum temperature range in which to grow eels is between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius, with the gap between day and night not exceeding 10 degrees Celsius. Too low a temperature will trigger a state of hibernation in the fish and it will start losing weight, while too high a temperature will make it overly active, consuming excessive feed without gaining weight.
Other than its moderate climate, the island possesses an abundant supply of underground water suitable for aquaculture. “The quality of water plays a significant role in the fish’s health,” noted Kuo. She stressed, however, that the most important advantages are local growers’ superior farming skills and their natural approach to fish breeding.
Aquaculture farmers on both sides of the strait grow eels in large outdoor ponds. However, mainlanders usually draw water from nearby watercourses that are often polluted. Since it is extremely difficult and costly to raise the fish in captivity, the business depends entirely on the number of wild-caught stock. “It is a very challenging operation, because the supply of elvers fluctuates from year to year,” noted Kuo.
But despite the numerous advantages Taiwan’s eel industry enjoyed, its base began to crumble in the mid-1990s as competitors from Southeast Asian countries and the mainland made inroads into the market. Recognizing the potential of this lucrative business, Beijing banned elver exports to Taiwan in 1994, causing the island’s farming business to crash almost overnight. The number of growers dropped from around 4,800 at the industry’s peak to 1,300 in 2008.
Taiwan’s eel processing business also suffered, with the sector coming dangerously close to extinction at one point. According to foundation statistics, in 2008 there were six plants on the island supplying around 2,000 tons of processed eels, representing a 97-percent decrease from 67,000 tons in 1993.
“While the mainland retains control over the elver supply and processing, Taiwan still maintains an edge in the export of live eels,” Kuo pointed out. “Live eels farmed in Taiwan are much better than those from the mainland. Even a layman can tell the difference just by looking at their appearances,” she added.
As the packaging and shipping of eel stock must be completed within 24 hours, all Japanese consignments have to be carried via airfreight. The frequent flight schedules between the two countries and the advanced packaging technology of Taiwan’s suppliers have made it possible to minimize the damage rate to less than 1 percent during transportation. “There is no way the mainland can compete with us in this area,” Kuo emphasized.
Another distinctive advantage is Taiwan’s stringent standards of antibiotic residue testing. “We have the strictest testing procedures in the world,” Kuo said proudly. She explained that farmers have to keep a daily record of the fish’s health during the breeding process. In addition, each shipment has to pass two rounds of testing by an independent facility and then be certified by the Fisheries Agency under the Council of Agriculture. “Our testing standards are even higher than those practiced by the Japanese,” she pointed out.
Kuo stated that last year’s tainted food crisis saw the Japanese turn away from mainland imports, causing over 70 percent of its eel farms to go out of business. The flood of elvers released by the mainland drove the price of the young fish down from NT$55 (US$1.67) per kilogram last November to NT$11 this February. As of March 21, the quantity of young eels being raised in Taiwan was 12 tons, or three times that in 2008. “This development represents the best opportunity for us in recent years,” Kuo said.
As Japanese consumers develop an appreciation for products from Taiwan, Kuo believes the local eel industry will make up for years of missed opportunities in this market. “In the past, the Japanese barely realized that a significant part of the livestock in their markets actually came from Taiwan,” Kuo said, who made this discovery while launching a promotional campaign in Japan last July. “Because most aquaculture operators in Taiwan did not have their own brands, efforts over the past four decades were not recognized,” she explained.
The foundation’s promotional efforts have paid big dividends already, with around two dozen Japanese industry officials and an accompanying media contingent touring Taiwan’s eel farms, packaging and testing facilities in March. This visit was the first in the island’s 40-year history of eel farming and was widely reported in Japan. “We received nothing but positive comments from the Japanese,” Kuo said proudly.
Appointed head of the foundation last July, Kuo said one of her priorities is to build brand recognition for Taiwan’s live eel exports in the Japanese market. Another endeavor is to ask the Japanese to lift quarantine restrictions on live imports from Taiwan. At present, live eels from the island have to be placed in bonded warehouses for three days in order to check for traces of antibiotics. This process generally causes the fish to lose 5 percent of their weight and equates to a loss of around US$9 million a year. Given the high standards of industry self-regulation in Taiwan, Kuo is expecting an affirmative response from the Japanese government soon.
In addition to expanding Taiwan’s Japanese market share, Kuo said she is trying to promote sales of the fish on the island as well. But her most important task remains building the image of Taiwan’s eels with Japanese consumers so the fish become their first choice. “We hope to accomplish this goal very soon,” she concluded.
Write to Meg chang at meg.chang@mail.gio.gov.tw