The first meeting of a fishing commission jointly set up by Taiwan and Japan will be held in late April to discuss follow-up issues after the sides signed a historic deal on fishing rights, a Taiwanese official said recently.
After 17 years of efforts, Taiwan and Japan signed a fishing agreement April 10 on fishing rights in their overlapping territories in the East China Sea. The two sides also agreed to set up the bilateral fishing commission, said James Sha, director-general of the Fisheries Agency under the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture.
The commission consists of four members — two from Taiwan and two from Japan — he added.
Issues on the agenda might include how to build mutual trust and establish a system to make fishery resources sustainable, as well as how Taiwan and Japan should regulate the operations of their own fishermen in the waters covered by the agreement, he said.
“Both sides can make suggestions on each other’s fishing boat regulations,” he said, but added that this will have to be on an equal footing.
Under the terms of the agreement, Taiwanese and Japanese boats can operate freely in a 74,300-square-kilometer area around the disputed Diaoyutai Islands, according to the Fisheries Agency.
This gives Taiwanese fishermen an additional 4,530 square kilometers in which they can operate free of harassment by the Japanese authorities, the agency said.
According to the agreement, the fishing commission will also deal with other issues related to fishing in disputed waters, mainly those near the Diaoyutais, known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan.
The commission will meet annually, with additional meetings convened if necessary, it added.
The agreement was signed during the 17th round of fishery talks between Taiwan and Japan since 1996 to try to iron out their differences on fishing rights in the disputed waters.
The islands, some 100 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan, have been under Japan’s administrative control since 1972 but are also claimed by Taiwan and China.
The surrounding waters have long been traditional fishing grounds for Taiwanese fishermen, but they are routinely chased away from the area by the Japanese authorities when they venture too close to what Japan sees as its territorial waters.
The Central News Agency