*4.1. Inadequate Management from the State*

There was no ocean-resource management department in the Taiwanese government before 2018; the Fishery Agency (FA) took charge of this responsibility. A new governmental agency, the Ocean Conservation Administration (OCA), was established on 28 April in 2018, which is a suborganization of Ocean Affairs Council, which is also a new department in the central government of Taiwan. Compared with the Forestry Bureau (FB), not only are the FA and OCA both very small units but also their divisions of responsibilities are divided such that FA takes charge in commercial fishing and OCA takes charge in conservation of ocean. It is difficult to integrate marine-resource management when the responsible governmental agencies are separated in different departments. Furthermore, there is little understanding of the marine TEK of indigenous peoples, not only in government but also in academia. Generally speaking, coastal fishery management relies on laws and regulations made by those who do not understand local TEK, and the coast guard cannot execute the laws or regulations efficiently due to not having enough TEK training and manpower.

As for local marine-area management, current fishing law prohibits using bottom-trawl nets within three nautical miles of the shore; however, it is difficult for the coast guard to enforce this law because it has neither the suitable equipment nor enough manpower. For coral-reef resources, there are no monitoring data for setting reasonable regulations for local marine-area management.

Today, the government has no regulations managing noncommercial fishing, such as hook fishing or spearfishing. NGOs have noticed a decrease in fish in coral reefs in Taiwan and proposed a prohibition on spearfishing within 12 nautical miles of the shore on 14 March 2017. This regulation caused much debate among spearfishing men, environmental NGOs, marine biologists, and fisherman communities. The regulation was followed by a public forum on 25 June 2017 in Taipei to make the final decision on whether the state would ban spearfishing in Taiwan.

According to the draft of the regulation prohibiting spearfishing, the main purpose is to protect the coral ecology and reef-fish system in Taiwan. Ironically, indigenous peoples who spear in the indigenous area are the exception to this regulation, which implies two things: one, it is illogical to exclude the indigenous area from marine-resource management according to the draft spearfishing regulation, and two, it is unrealistic to expect that indigenous people can manage the local marine area without any external support.

The regulation regarding spearfishing has caused many arguments among the spearfishing communities; most think spearfishing is the most sustainable method. However, there is also an idea that even spearfishing needs regulating to manage the marine resources. The most critical problem, for now, is that the government does not have any reliable data with which to monitor coral-reef marine life, so they cannot issue reasonable management regulations.

In the end, the government has not enforced the law of prohibiting spearfishing at all; debates are still going on in Taiwan. There is still a lack of rational regulations for managing freediving spearfishing.

Based on CBNRM theories, getting the local community to be involved in the management system is one of the keys to successful management. However, the local community should not have to shoulder the whole responsibility for managing local natural resources, even though local TEK is more complicated than a general understanding of the local environment.
