Ⅱ. Fishery Development in Taiwan and Overview of Fishery Workforce︱ According to the “2019 Annual Report of the Fisheries Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan,” the average annual production of Taiwan’s distant water fishery was approximately 697,200 tonnes. The industry employed about 1,140 vessels engaged in tuna longline fishing, skipjack purse seining, squid fishing, and saury stick-held dip netting. These ships operated across three oceans and their total annual output was worth approximately NT$38.563 billion4. Taiwan actively participates in regional fisheries management organizations of the three oceans as a “fishing entity” to protect the rights of Taiwanese vessels to operate in these waters and a quota of around 90,000 tonnes for restricted fish species is secured every year. As of November 8, 2021, there were 255 FOC vessels operated or partially owned by Taiwanese nationals with the authorization of COA. The top three FOC countries were Panama, Vanuatu, and Seychelles5. “Flag of Convenience” vessels refer to ships that are registered in a country different from the nationality of their owners, fly another country’s flag, and fall under another country’s jurisdiction. Low registration fees, low or no taxes, as well as the freedom to hire cheap laborers, are often the main reasons for ship owners to “fly another flag.” Ship owners generally choose 4. The 2020 fisheries statistics of the Fisheries Agency indicated that the distant water fisheries had a total output of 430,000 tonnes valued at NT$25.665 billion in 2020. 5. Please refer to the Fisheries Agency (FA) website - Homepage > Information and Services > List of Authorized FOC vessels, source: https://www.fa.gov.tw/cht/FOC/ 025