Taitung fishermen face decimated catch, call for downgrade to dolphin conservation
Taitung fishermen face decimated catch, call for downgrade to dolphin conservation
2023-06-07
Fishermen in Taitung are calling for protection for dolphins to be relaxed, as the marine mammals decimate their tuna catch. Fishermen at Hsin-kang Fishing Harbor in Taitung’s Chenggong Township often pull their lines up to find nothing but fish heads left. Dolphins come by the boat and eat the fish before the fishers get a chance. The struggle between dolphins and humans is leading local fishermen’s representatives to argue that more priority should be put on local people’s livelihoods, and less on protecting marine biology.
Two black skipjack tuna heads lie on the deck. The rest of the fish was eaten by dolphins. Fisherman Cheng Kuo-ching often faces this sad sight of just fish heads left from his catch. Locals call him the “Fish Head Boat Master.” His blood boils just to think about dolphins.
Cheng Kuo-ching
Fishing boat master
They’re pirates! We all call them that. And it does no good to catch them.
Fisherman
Yeah, yeah! They all eat the black skipjack. They eat them in the sea – what good would it do to catch them?
These fishermen go out to sea to catch tuna in the high season, but often come back with nothing but the heads. Dolphins are good at helping themselves to the spoils of a bountiful catch.
Cheng Kuo-ching
Fishing boat master
When you pull them to shore, the dolphins start eating the fish, chasing the boat. Sometimes we’re about to pull the tuna onboard and we have to fight with the dolphins. They swim right underneath the boat to eat the fish.
A fisherman coils a long fishing line into a bucket.
Most Taiwanese fishers use the longlining method to catch black skipjack. The line is lowered to a certain depth, using squid for bait, and then let out farther and farther – sometimes as long as 50 kilometers. It’s a relatively ecofriendly fishing technique.
But the tuna caught on the line frequently become a feast for dolphins, before fishermen can reel them in.
Luo Jen-tse
Whale-watching boat master
The dolphins know where the hook is. They know it’s in the fish head, the mouth. So they start eating them from the tail up, and just leave the head on the hook.
Chen Chun-ming
Hsin-kang Fishing Harbor Fishermen’s Association
The conservation of dolphins is quite good right now, even rather excessive. Fishermen want dolphins to be downgraded or something like that, to help fishers have a slightly better life.
Dolphins need protecting, but fishermen say they need protection too. Striking the right balance between ecological conservation and protecting people’s livelihoods is a real dilemma for lawmakers.
黑鮪魚殺手! 漁民見海豚群心情忐忑
2023-06-07
"可愛的海豚"對漁民而言，卻是最束手無策的搶奪者，只要被牠盯上的黑鮪魚，通通都只會剩一顆魚頭。每逢黑鮪魚季，漁民出海捕撈，只要看到海豚群，各個都是心情忐忑。海豚們坐享其成，專挑上鉤的黑鮪魚享用，辛苦的漁民常常血本無歸、非常無奈。
黑鮪魚誰吃的，罪魁禍首是海豚。因為常捕到只剩魚頭，被人戲稱"魚頭船長”的鄭國靜，一提到海豚，恨到牙癢癢。
[[台東成功籍漁船長 鄭國靜]]
“海賊啦，我們都說海賊，你又拿牠沒辦法”
[[漁民]]
“對啊對啊，都會吃黑鮪魚，牠在海裡會咬，你能拿牠怎樣”
每逢黑鮪魚季，漁民出海捕魚，常常漁獲都被海豚啃到只剩一顆頭。本是大豐收，卻被海豚坐享其成。
[[魚頭船長 鄭國靜]]
“要拉上岸時，牠(海豚)就在海底開始吃了，就開始追了，有時候(黑鮪魚)已經快拉上船了，就跟牠(海豚)拚啊，牠(海豚)都游到船底下來吃”
漁民不斷地把釣繩往後拉，將釣繩收進桶子裡。
台灣捕撈黑鮪魚，多是採用延繩釣法，利用魷魚當餌，釣繩下放到一定深度時，再將釣繩流放，最長可達50公里。雖然延繩釣對海洋生態較友善，但上鉤的黑鮪魚，就成為海豚們，移動中的吃到飽大餐。
[[賞鯨船船長 羅仁澤]]
“牠們知道你鉤子在那邊，牠會知道鉤子在頭那邊，嘴巴那邊，所以牠們會從牠尾巴開始咬，開始進食，就會剩一顆頭在鉤子上”
[[台東成功鎮新港漁會總幹事 陳俊銘]]
“目前海豚的保育相當的好，也相當的過剩了，漁民也希望海豚，可以有類似的降級的方式，多少可以讓漁民生活好一點”
海豚需要被保育，漁民也需要維持生計，如何取得平衡點，漁民希望相關單位可得重視這個議題。
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