The Fisheries Research Institute, Council of Agriculture and the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) have established a healthy cooperative relationship. CWB provides the predicted value of sea surface water temperature in northern Taiwan. From the resource change prediction pattern developed by the Fisheries Research Institute, it is accurately predicted that the loligo fishing condition for 2019 in the sea area of northern Taiwan was worse than the previous year. The two entities are cooperating to provide the first prediction of loligo fishing conditions in northern Taiwan, which would help fishermen to select the proper fishing method and fishing ground, reduce the time seeking a fishing ground, cut oil expenditures, save energy, and reduce carbon emissions. The target is to increase the fish catch by 10% for fishing boats and reduce oil consumption by 10%.
Loligo is also called squid. In the sea area surrounding Taiwan, there are three main species of fish that are harvested: Chinese gun loligo, point gun loligo, and Du’s loligo. In the sea area of northern Taiwan, the main species is point gun loligo, the main fishing period is from April to October every year, and the main fishing method is a stick net. As loligo resources are easily affected by a change in the marine environment, there is generally a harvest year or a lean year. In lean years under a comparatively poor environment, the operation pattern is required to be adjusted to avoid a crashing of resources beyond recovery. Thus, the control of resource change is important.
Since 2009 the Fisheries Research Institute has begun research on the point gun loligo in the sea area of northern Taiwan, and a sample of boat operation information spanning nearly ten years has been accumulated. The results of long-term research show that the sea surface water temperature is the important factor affecting the change of loligo resources. With the resource trend index and sea surface water temperature from the sample of boat operation information, pattern analysis can be conducted to predict the pattern of loligo resource change, and the prediction of loligo resource change in the current year can be provided before the fishing period of every year. In addition, since 2018 the Central Weather Bureau has conducted customized short-term weather and long-term climate monitoring and forecasts for agriculture, fishery, and government units to use, so as to adopt protection measures to reduce losses. The sea surface water temperature forecast is one such item. Thus, the Fisheries Research Institute and Central Weather Bureau have set up a cooperative relationship. With the loligo resource change prediction pattern and the sea surface water temperature prediction information in the future 5 months provided by the Central Weather Bureau, the loligo resource trend prediction of the current year can be conducted.
The loligo resource trend prediction pattern established by Fisheries Research Institute mainly uses the upwelling in the sea area of northern Taiwan and the surface water temperature in the sea area of eastern Taiwan as prediction factors. Comparatively, a high sea surface water temperature has a negative influence on loligo resources. Estimated by the water temperature prediction information provided by the Central Weather Bureau in March of 2019, the result shows that the fish catch of point gun loligo in the sea area of northern Taiwan this year will not be optimistic. The fishing period has currently ended, and the preliminary statistical sample of boat fishing catch information shows that the resource trend index value is 4.8. After conversion, the unit fish catch is 123.83kg/per ship/per day, or the second lowest since 2009 (the lowest is 123.75kg/per ship/per day in 2016). It shows that the loligo resources for this year have indeed declined. The sea surface water temperature of fishing grounds is collected from the track information automatic collection system installed in sample boats. According to the questionnaire survey result of 10 captains piloting sample boats, the owners believe that the sea surface water temperature information provided by the Fisheries Research Institute can assist at improving the fish catch by 21% and reducing oil cost by 30%. In the future, the institute will continue to cooperate with the weather bureau, so as to provide loligo sea condition forecasting in the sea area of northern Taiwan and to assist fishermen at saving operation time when seeking out fishes and reduce the oil consumption.
The Fisheries Research Institute advocates that correct and detailed fish catch information is the basis for resource evaluation. For sustainable utilization of resources, researchers need more information for a better prediction. Fishermen are encouraged to actively participate in the sample boat information collection of the institute to make joint efforts for the sustainable utilization of loligo resources.