Taipei, July 15 (CNA) The Fisheries Agency has decided to impose a ban on fishing three large-size shark species, the megamouth shark, great white shark and basking shark, in an effort to preserve biological diversity in waters off Taiwan.

The agency is set to formally announce the ban Thursday, and post regulations requiring fishing boats that catch these sharks by accident to release them back into the sea, whether dead or alive, the agency said in a statement Wednesday.

The ban, to apply to Taiwanese fishing boats no matter where they fish, will take effect 60 days after the notification if no objections are raised during that time.

Taiwan's new ban follows measures to prohibit its fishing boats from fishing whale sharks in 2008 and from fishing giant oceanic manta rays in 2018.

Great white sharks and basking sharks are listed as a "vulnerable species" and an "endangered species," respectively, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Though the IUCN categorized megamouth sharks in November 2018 as being of the "least concern" on its Red List, it suggested that Taiwan take measures to require people to release megamouth sharks incidentally caught when fishing for sunfish using driftnets.

It also recommended closing down sunfish driftnet fishing from April to August when megamouth shark interactions are at their peak.

Given that megamouth sharks -- the third largest shark species in size following whale sharks and basking sharks -- are not the main economic catches of Taiwanese fishing boats, the ban will help maintain marine biological diversity and improve Taiwan's image in conserving big cartilaginous fish, the statement said.

Megamouth sharks are one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and basking shark. They are all cartilaginous fish, which have skeletons made of cartilage rather than bone.

The Fisheries Agency said that although fishing boats are banned from catching the three big shark species, catching them for teaching or scientific research purposes will be allowed if approved by the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture.

According to data from the agency, since March 2013 when Taiwan began to require that catches of the three big shark species be reported to the authorities, there have been reports of 32 great white sharks and 138 megamouth sharks caught in waters close to Taiwan.

The upcoming ban was applauded by the Taipei-based nonprofit and nongovernmental Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST), which has pushed for the protection of megamouth sharks.

EAST executive officer Chu Tseng-hung (朱增宏) said megamouth sharks are a species even more rarely spotted than whale sharks.

Since it was discovered and named in 1976, only 226 have been recorded around the world as of June 17 this year, 146 of which were caught in Taiwan, he said.

Saving megamouth sharks is of great urgency now, 

he declared.

(By Yang Shu-min and Elizabeth Hsu)

Photo Courtesy The Fisheries Agency