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Friday July 6, 7:48 AM
Taiwan Considering Ban on Eel Fry Exports to JapanTAIPEI, July 6 Asia Pulse - The Fisheries Agency is considering a ban on exports of eel fry to Japan amid increasing calls for wildlife conservation and better management of natural resources, agency officials said Thursday. Other voices, however, are pushing Fisheries Agency authorities to rethink the ban, saying that the ban will compromise two-way trade between Taiwan and Japan and disturb domestic eel fry prices.
The officials made the remarks after a Japanese daily newspaper reported Thursday that Taiwan will ban eel fry exports to Japan in November this year. According to that report, Taiwan has exported some 100,000 metric tons of eel fry to Japan each year since 2001, constituting roughly 20 percent of Japan's total eel imports. Contradictorily, the Japanese daily said that if there were a shortage of eel fry in Taiwan, and Taiwan asked Japan to make up some of the short fall, Japanese traders would reject the request. Some Taiwanese legislators have thus voiced their indignation at the Japanese traders' "lack of reciprocity," the report said. According to Fisheries Agency officials, Taiwan exported some 50,000 metric tons of eel fry to Japan between October and December last year, but Taiwan's fishery sector has kept the 40,000 metric tons that Taiwan fishermen harvested between January and February this year to be raised in Taiwan. Unit prices of eel fry varied ferociously, fluctuating between NT$16 (US$0.49) and NT$50 (US$1.53) per head between November 2005 and November 2006, the officials said. Japan has imposed bans on eel fry exports between December and April each year, and South Korea has banned such exports according to the season and specifications, while Taiwan has never banned eel fry exports. (CNA)
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