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Abstract

The overall goal of this paper is to provide important information documenting and analyzing Taiwan’s trawl fishing fleet activities in the northeastern of Taiwan. Seasonal SST data are used to analyze different seasonal fishing patterns and the density of fleet dynamics of offshore trawl fleet is used to identify five distinct fishing areas (A, B, C, D, and E) in the northeastern of Taiwan. A Wilcoxon sign test is used to examine the variability in the percent of days spent in each fishing area from 1993 to 1996. Results show that a significant portion of trawl vessels have shifted from the most important fishing area C to other areas during 1995 and 1996. Fishing area C may not be yielding sufficient harvests to warrant previous fishing levels, something that could be caused by stock depletion, which is more pronounced in area C than that in other areas. It is of interest to continue monitoring whether or not the fleet movement dynamics in area C will be influenced by the “Sino-Japan Co-Management Zone, ” which was declared by Mainland China and Japan in 1997. Continuing updating database and further research are desirable in the future.

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