Taiwan is inventing life vests suitable for fishermen and hopes to have them by year end. That was the word from Fisheries Agency’s Director-General Chang Chih-sheng in an RTI interview on Monday.
Chang said the current life vests are bulky and interfere with fishermen’s mobility at work so they often choose not to wear them at sea. In recent years, several fishermen have lost their lives when they fell overboard with no vests on.
Chang said his office has been working with universities and companies to invent more suitable life vests. They are at the testing stage of self-inflatable vests with Taiwanese and migrant fishermen. Chang also said he hopes that the vests can eventually be exported to other countries.
Meanwhile, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan’s fish could only be sold within Taiwan this year. Despite the increase in volume of fish, Taiwan has seen an increase of nearly 30 percent in fish sales over last year due to the agriculture council’s promotional efforts. Chang encourages people to visit and enjoy seafood at Taiwan’s 220 fishing ports.