Managing the offshore and coastal fisheries in Taiwan to achieve sustainable development using policy indicators

Abstract

This study establishes an offshore and coastal fisheries policy indicator system to evaluate the performance of policies to achieve sustainable development in offshore and coastal fisheries. A modified Delphi method is used to establish this system, and the weights of indicators are calculated using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to aggregate indicators. Results show that ecological policies have not achieved their goals because production and catch per unit effort are decreasing. Indicators with respect to management efficiency have increased after the implementation of the buyback and off-fishing programs. However, net returns indicator, which is affected by increasing cost and production value, is stable. Due to inefficient management resulting from insufficient resources, indicators for the number of illegal fishing cases per year and the number of smuggled aquatic production incidents have increased. This shows that requirement for enhanced compliance is necessary. The objective for cultivating talents in fisheries has not been achieved because average wage for fishers is lower than the average civil wage, resulting in an increase in the hiring of foreign fishers. ► Offshore and coastal fisheries policies indicator system assesses policies performance. ► Taiwan has implemented many measures but the effectiveness appears limited. ► Ecological policies have not achieved goals because of decrease in production and CPUE. ► Illegal fishing and smuggling increase as a result of insufficient enforcement. ► Taiwanese government needs to strengthen fisheries enforcement.