Fishing industry in Taiwan

With a coastline of 1566 km, Taiwan is one of the largest fishing nations on earth. Geographically, Taiwan is surrounded by water and lies about 180 kilometres (112 miles) across the Taiwan Strait from the southeastern coast of the Mainland China. The East China Sea is to the north of the island, the Philippine Sea to its east, the Luzon Strait directly to its south, and the South China Sea to its southwest. It also controls a number of smaller islands, including the Penghu archipelago in the Taiwan Strait, Kinmen and Matsu in Fuchien near the Mainland coast, as well as Pratas and Taiping in the South China Sea.

More than one third of the worlds longline tuna fishing vessels are operated by Taiwanese companies with the total strength of the distant waters fishing fleet at more than 2,000 vessels. Taiwanese conglomerate FCF Co, Ltd. is one of the largest tuna traders in the world moving more than half million tons a year, in 2019 they acquired American company Bumble Bee Foods for close to 1 billion dollars. Taiwan's ocean fisheries employs roughly 350,000 people and there are 130,000 fishing households in Taiwan. The Taiwanese fishing industry was estimated to be worth approximately two billion dollars in 2019, and the seafood industry to be worth 1.3 billion dollars a year in 2020.