Maritime industries of Taiwan

Industries of particular importance are shipbuilding, boat building, maritime transport, aquaculture, mariculture, commercial fishing, seafood processing, offshore wind power and various forms of tourism.

Waves of immigrants and conquerors have traveled to Taiwan over the seas from Mainland China, Europe, Japan, and elsewhere.

[4] Geographically Taiwan's relationship with the sea is shaped by its location at the eastern end of the Eurasian landmass.

[6] Taiwan's maritime culture suffered under the KMT who nationalized the seashore and closed off access to most Taiwanese as well as forbade private recreational boat ownership.

Since the end of the martial law period the Taiwanese people have embarked on a process of re-embracing their maritime culture.

Wan Hai Lines and Today Makes Tomorrow are smaller but still globally significant ocean shipping companies.

[2] Military and Coast Guard orders make up a large portion of shipbuilders books by dollar value.

Between the Taiwanese Navy and the Coast Guard Administration Taiwan spends approximately a billion dollars a year on new vessel construction.

[14] Regulations enacted during the martial law era meant that ownership of personal leisure craft was not permitted until 2010.

[11] While maritime recreation facilities and infrastructure remain underdeveloped the Taiwanese government has emphasized marine sports and related tourism as an economic opportunity for Taiwan's outlying islands.

[28] Taiwanese conglomerate FCF Co, Ltd. is one of the largest tuna trader in the world moving more than half million tons a year,[29] in 2019 they acquired Bumble Bee Foods for close to 1 billion dollars.

[34] Taiwan's overseas fishing fleet has been criticized for a history of abuse and a lack of protection for migrant laborers, often from Southeast Asia.

Foreign fishermen frequently report non-payment, long work hours, and verbal and physical abuse at the hands of their captains and officers, who are often Taiwanese.

[27] In recent years Taiwan has made significant progress on the issue, but abuse remains widespread.

In terms of human rights the distant waters fishing fleet lags far behind the rest of Taiwanese industry.

[35] A 2020 Greenpeace investigation found Taiwanese vessels in the Atlantic Ocean engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

[29] Taiwanese fisheries conglomerate FCF was specifically singled out for criticism for links to illegal fishing and forced labor.

[40] Approximately ninety Taiwanese vessels participate in the long distance North Pacific saury fishery.

The Formosa II wind farms will be constructed also offshore Miaoli County with a planned capacity of 300-500 MW.

The Formosa III wind farm will be constructed offshore Changhua County with a planned capacity of 1,900 MW.