Fisheries, management and conservation of the whale shark Rhincodon typus in Taiwan

As Taiwan was a big whale shark catch country before ban of the fishing, understanding of the distribution, size structure, and fisheries is very important. This paper recorded and measured 810 whale shark individuals including 117 individuals from Taitung fish markets during 1996–2000 and the others from catch-and-report system and fisheries investigation during 2001–2008. Aspects of biological information such as length-weight relationship and sex ratio were provided. In addition, this paper described the progress of whale shark management and conservation in Taiwan.

The section ‘MANAGEMENT MEASURES AND PROCEDURES’ is the main part to describe the progress of whale shark management and conservation in Taiwan. It’s a long-term (almost eight years) procedure, from the beginning of fisheries investigation, sets of total allowable catch, size and fishing gear restriction, and finally ban of the fishing without (or very rare) backlash. It’s the first species specific management on chondrichthyans in Taiwan.

Please use the question below to help you understand： -In the past, before ban of whale shark fishing during the 2000s, please describe the main fishing methods and areas to catch whale sharks in Taiwan. -Now the whale shark has fully been protected in Taiwan, so the willingness of fishermen to report the capture of whale sharks is very low. Hence, please think, how to monitor its occurrence and distribution in the future.