1‧Radio Stations Exclusively for Fishery Use
The radio stations are responsible for linking fishing vessels over 100 tons and their onshore bases. The radio station of Keelung regional fishermen's assocation is responsible for linking fishing vessels from Keelung, Taipei, and Ilan areas, while the radio station of Kaohsiung
fishermens' association is responsible for fishing vessels from the Kaohsiung area. The radio stations are equipped with high power and frequency cordless telephone sets or cordless telegraph transmitters, which are on stand-by at all times to monitor SOS messages from vessels operating at sea, so that fishing vessels encountering difficulties at sea can receive rapid and effective support and assistance. With regard to communications services, the fishery radio stations perform the following roles:1) broadcasting fishery weather;2) publicizing relevant information on fishery policy and regulations at regulare time periods on a daily basis;3) distributing information on fishing operational locations which are sent back daily by the fishing vessels
operating at sea; and, 4) distributing information on fishing catches after sorting out the received information and producing, accordingly, reports and tables for the owners of the vessels. The fishery radio stations, if requested by the owners of the fishing vessels operating at sea, will forward the message issued by the owners to their fishing vessels operating at sea, in order to ensure close communication between the two sides.
2‧Radio Stations for Fisheries Communication
In order to help deal with business relationg to providing communications services to those offshore and coastal fishing vessels which are under 100 tons and are operating at sea, and to communicate with onshore bases, the government began in 1980 to assist and guide the fishermen's
associations of Keelung, Kaohsiung, Penhu, Suou, Taichung, Don Gan, Green Island, Hua Len, and Shin Tsuto set up onshore service radio stations. In December 1993, Keelung Onshore Service Radio Station was incorporated into Keelung Fisheries Radio Station; in December 1995, Keelung Onshore Service Radio Station was renamed Radio Station of Fishery Communication. The established offshore service radio stations are equipped with cordless telephon sets and cordless telegraph transmitters to monitor distress at sea frequency channel and to provide service for communication at sea, so that fishermen operationg at sea are able of follow the daily selling prices of fish products at fish markets and to receive information on fishery weather and messages sent by their relatives. In addition, if fishermen operating at sea need to send messages to their onshore relatives, they can do so through the radio station. Moreover, in order to maintain operational order for those vessels operating in offshore and coastal fishing zones, when fishing vessels encounter difficulties or are in distress, detect suspected fishing vessels from Mainland China, or detect fishing vessels which are conducting illegal fishing practices, these fishing vessels may go through the onshore service radio stations to transmit the information to the R&S Coordination Center of the ROC's Army and the nearby fishing vessels to provide the needed assistance, or they may notify the Joint Task Force of Anti-Smuggling and Maritime Policy to enforce anti-smuggling and fishery protection tasks. To those fishing vessels which conduct illegal fishing practices, the notification should be sent to the competent county or city governments which then should dispatch authorized officials to inspect the returning vessels when they enter ports, or to send patrolling vessels to arrest those on the the vessels.
3‧Fisheries Broadcasting Stations
Fishery broadcasting stations' major job is to provide information on fishery weather and information on agriculture and fisheries. Fishery broadcasting stations receive information directly from the Central Weather Bureau. The weather information received, after being sorted out, is broadcast on an hourly basis. The broadcasting lasts 6-7 hours and occupies 26% of the entire broadcasting time. The rest of the broadcasting time is allocated to broadcasting information on agriculture and fisheries, agriculture and fishery knowledge, fishing conditions, fishing seasons, information on fish value and market prices, information on fruit and vegetable value and market prices, and other news relevant to fishermen/farmers and agriculture/fisheries. The station's broadcasting can reach the following areas: Japan and Korea in the north, Guam in the east, the equator in the south, and the coastal areas of Mainland China in the west, which covers a huge area indeed.