Coastal Fisheries：Set-Net fishery、Spear fishing

Coastal fisheries is the fishery activity which acts inside the 12 nautical mile range of national territorial waters, or in the coastal area that is able to go and back in one day. The most popular fishing techniques of coastal fisheries are , spear fishing, and various fishing nets.

Set-net is one high capital fishery. The size of a set-net is as big as a football field.  And fishermen always set it up at the sea area where fishes show up frequently. Nets of set-net are connected one after another, make it like a big under water maze, therefore fishes wouldn’t able to escape from this complex net system. The only thing that fishermen need to do is check the set-net after a period, and they will have heaps of fortune to go. Kuroshio pass through offshore waters of east Taiwan, plenty of migratory fishes were brought by it. Therefore, there are several set-nets fishing area, and the owners even link them up with tourism.

Spear fishing is a traditional fishing technique at the east coast of Taiwan, and sailfishes are primary objective. Spear boats are unique and it is easy to be found at harbors in Hualien and Taitung. There is a spear platform, which sticks out in the front of boat and with a 10 feet spear aside. At least three persons are needed for spearing fishes, one is operator, one is shooter, and one is tracker. These three persons have to work properly in order to spear fishes successfully. Autumn and winter are seasons for spear fishing, however the windy weather is a big challenge to spear boat and fishermen. In the ecological view, spear fishing makes less damage to the marine environment by its low efficiency.