The fishing industry of Taiwan is heavily relied on the distant water fisheries, which constitute more than 50% of the total production in the whole industry. Incorporating the small vessels that have switched to operate in the distant water grounds due to the gradually diminished fishing resources along the coastline, the broader sense of the distant water fisheries could possibly comprise more than 60% of the total production. Following the exercising of 200 nautical mile of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by coastal nations since 1980, the conventional fishing grounds were drawn up by the costal nations as its jurisdiction and as the result of that, cases of fisheries dispute and detention of fishing vessels have been increasingly occurred. For this purpose, in 1989, Council of Agriculture established the “Overseas Fisheries Development Council of the Republic of China”(OFDC) with an aim to assisting the government and the industry in reaching fisheries cooperation agreement and reducing the cases of detention of fishing vessels by foreign authorities. Furthermore, by educating fishermen and operators with dissemination of information on fisheries and propagation of the laws, OFDC hopes to ensure the sustainable development of Taiwan 's distant waters fisheries despite its difficult political reality in the international community.
