This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 004832 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/OMC FOR STETSON TINKHAM, EAP/RSP/TC 
 
STATE PLEASE ALSO PASS TO AIT/W 
 
USDOC FOR NOAA/NMFS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: SENV EFIS TW ESTH
SUBJECT: ICCAT SANCTIONS AND FISHING BOAT PROBLEMS: A VISIT 
WITH DEEP SEA FISHERIES DIVISION DIRECTOR 
 
REF: A. Tinkham/Chang email of December 1, 2005. 
     ¶B. 04 TAIPEI 4074 
     ¶C. TAIPEI 4788 
 
¶1.  Summary. December 1 AIT/T Econoffs visited Council of 
Agriculture Deep-Sea Fisheries Director Tsay Tzu-yaw to 
discuss recent sanctions, upcoming meetings and the USCG 
request to board a Taiwan fishing vessel.  Tsay said the 
sanctions were too severe and the Taiwan response is still 
pending.  Econoffs emphasized that Taiwan should remain a 
member of the International Convention on the Conservation 
of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) and should try to satisfy ICCAT's 
requirements.  Tsay referred future requests for boarding 
Taiwan fishing vessels to MOFA.  Action request in para 12. 
End summary 
 
ICCAT sanctions 
--------------- 
 
¶2.  Econ Chief and ESTH officer visited Tsay Tzu-yaw, 
Director of the Deep-Sea Fisheries division of the Council 
of Agriculture Fisheries Administration on December 1, 2005 
to raise the issue of recommendations by the International 
Convention on Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) to 
reduce Taiwan's big-eye tuna catch by 70 percent. Tsay said 
the decision was a harsh one.  He said that despite 
remonstrations by the Taiwan ICCAT delegation, strict 
penalties were imposed that Taiwan would find very difficult 
to accept. Tsay emphasized that the Taiwan delegation at the 
Seville meeting found it hard to accept the ICCAT decision. 
He said that the Fisheries Administration Deputy Director 
was in Kaohsiung consulting with Taiwan's fishing industry 
on Taiwan's response. 
 
¶3.  Econ Chief, drawing on points in ref A, said that 
ICCAT's decision was fair from the U.S. point of view and 
that Taiwan needed to stay engaged with ICCAT and manage its 
fishing fleets to prevent overfishing. Tsay mentioned that 
the Fisheries Administration could impose on errant Taiwan 
vessels, fines and revocation of fishing licenses from 3 
months to a year. In severe cases licenses could be taken 
away indefinitely. 
 
¶4.  Comment:  Tsay's statement that Taiwan has yet to make a 
decision on how to respond to the ICCAT sanctions is 
surprising because senior Taiwan officials have already made 
public statements citing the need for Taiwan to improve its 
management of Taiwan fishing fleets and for Taiwan to accept 
the sanctions.  On November 21, local press articles 
reported that Premier Frank Hsieh (Chang-ting) said that 
Taiwan is willing to comply with international fishing 
regulations.  On November 23, Fisheries Administration 
Director General Hsieh Da-wen said that Taiwan needed to 
improve management of its fishing fleet and comply with 
ICCAT rules. 
 
¶5.  Tsay evaded AIT questions on the issue of Taiwan vessels 
registering with and fishing out of third-country ports.  As 
reported in ref C, some Taiwan fishermen complain that the 
sanctions are the result of failure by Taiwan officials to 
regulate Taiwan-owned vessels that operate out of third 
countries; that law-abiding Taiwan-flagged vessels are 
punished while no effective measures are taken against 
vessels flying flags of convenience.  End Comment. 
 
WCPFC 
----- 
 
¶6.   Tsay said it was possible that Taiwan could face 
further sanctions at the upcoming WCPFC meeting in Pohnpei, 
Micronesia.  He said that Taiwan could learn valuable 
lessons from the U.S. experience in reacting to reduced 
quotas for catching blue fin tuna in the 1990's.  He asked 
for information on how the U.S. had handled industry 
concerns and downsizing its tuna-fishing fleet. 
 
¶7.  Tsay said that Taiwan is concerned about the boarding 
and inspection procedures for its fishing boats operating in 
the western Pacific. Taiwan is concerned that it not be 
treated any differently than any other members and asked for 
U.S. confirmation that the same procedures are used. 
 
¶8.  Tsay said that Taiwan favors good management of tuna 
stocks in the western Pacific and supports in principle U.S. 
proposals tabled for the upcoming WCPFC conference for the 
conservation of northern albacore. 
 
¶9.  Tsay said the Taiwan delegation to the December 12 
meeting would like to discuss with the U.S. delegation rules 
and procedures governing the scientific committee, technical 
committee and the northern committee to confirm Taiwan 
delegation's understanding of these rules. Tsay said 
Taiwan's delegation would exceed 10 people, including 
industry reps and official delegates. The delegation will 
stay at the hotel Yvonne (contact tel: 30-5130). 
Suspect fishing vessel 
---------------------- 
 
¶10.  AIT/T raised the recent incident involving Taiwan 
suspected narco-trafficking vessel Shin Yeou No. 16 off the 
coast of Colombia and a USCG request to board the vessel. A 
Taiwan interagency group recommended to allow boarding, but 
the final decision was stalled by MOFA. To date AIT/T has 
not received a formal response from MOFA on Taiwan's final 
determination. The boat was boarded by Colombian authorities 
for illegal fishing in its EEZ and taken to Cartagena. On 
board were six illegal aliens. MOFA North American affairs 
director Leo Lee told us on Nov. 30 that the Colombians had 
identified the undocumented aliens as one Vietnamese and 
five PRC nationals. Lee also said no other evidence of 
illicit activity has been reported. Lee indicated that the 
undocumented aliens boarded the F/V via the "go fast" boat 
that had originally attracted the attention of the USCG 
patrol aircraft. 
 
¶11.  Tsay said that future requests to board Taiwan vessels 
should be sent to MOFA for action. Tsay was surprised that 
AIT/T had not received any formal response from MOFA. 
 
¶12.  Action request: AIT/T requests Washington agencies 
guidance to respond to Tsay's request for information 
regarding 1) U.S. experience in responding to sharp cuts in 
quotas (para 6); 2) Taiwan concerns about procedures for 
boarding and searching vessels in the Pacific (para 7); and 
USdel interest in meeting the Taiwan delegation in Pohnpei 
(para 9). End action request. 
 
PAAL