Fisheries Research Institute (FRI) of Council of Agriculture (COA) and Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), DEFRA signed the Letter of Intent (LOI) to facilitate an exchange of experience and knowledge on aspects of marine monitoring, research and management approaches to help enable the sustainable use of marine and freshwater resources during the 3rd Taiwan-UK Agriculture Dialogue Meeting on October 19, 2020.
British Office Taipei Deputy Representative Andrew Pittam and Department of International Affairs of COA Director General Vincent Lin witnessed the signing of the LOI, which was undertaken by Cefas Commercial Director Steve Addison and FRI Chief Secretary Chen-Te Tseng. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, both representatives synchronously signed the LOI during the video meeting.
Cefas is a world leader in marine science and technology, providing innovative solutions for the aquatic environment, biodiversity and food security. Recently Cefas have advanced studies on ecological impact assessment and ecosystem services related to offshore wind farm developments and considerations for marine environmental management.
FRI is the principal institution for undertaking research on and developing fisheries in Taiwan. FRI implements comprehensive research on the use of fishery resources, improvements in fishing technology, enhancement of fishery stocks, advancement of aquaculture technology, application of biotechnology, and processing of fishery products. Due to the renewable energy policy, Taiwan’s goal is to raise its offshore wind power capacity to 5.7 gigawatts (GW) by 2025. FRI had conducted to study on offshore wind farm developments and marine fishery issues since 2017. FRI established the exchanging platform on the research related to the offshore wind farm developments and marine fishery following 1st and 2nd UK-Taiwan Agriculture Dialogue Meeting in 2018-2019. With the support of COA and British Office Taipei, delegate of FRI visited the institutes related to the offshore wind in the UK, and exchanged information with Cefas experts in 2019. Because of the difference in the marine environment and fisheries, Taiwan offshore wind farm developments and marine fisheries may be different to the UK. Through Cefas and FRI sign the LOI to build a collaborative relationship as well as opportunities for knowledge exchange and academic staff exchanges. It promotes the research exchanges for marine fishing monitoring, and management approaches to achieve the goal on the coexisting of offshore wind and fisheries.
Fig.1. Mr. Vincent Lin, Director General, Department of International Affairs, COA (middle) witnessed that Mr. Andrew Pittam (right), deputy representative of the British office Taipei accepted the LOI, which was undertaken by FRI Chief Secretary Chen-Te Tseng (left), and then transferred it to Cefas.
Fig.2. Cefas Commercial Director Mr. Steve Addison signed the LOI at the Cefas conference room.