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Taiwan is one of the largest distant water fishing (DWF) nations worldwide, and relies largely on the migrant labor to keep costs low. However, this industry has caused Taiwan to be listed in the 2020 “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor” of the U.S. Department of Labor. In view of this, the Taiwanese government is actively adopting further management measures to supervise the domestic and foreign fishermen agencies. It is because the latter has been involved in many disputes, especially in recruitment, payroll, and labor contracts, which directly or indirectly affect the rights of migrant fishermen. On the other hand, although the C188 Work in Fishing Convention has stregthend the protection of the fishermen’s human rights, it still stays ambiguous in terms of private agency management. That is also why so many disputes have been caused in recent years.This study conducts a comparative analysis of the agency management systems in the primary source countries of Taiwan’s distant water fishing migrant fishermen (that is, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam), as well as interviews with distant water fishing stakeholders to provide insights on the improvement of agency management and migrant fishermen’s rights in Taiwan. The findings imply that the positive interaction, mutual trust, and understanding of laws and regulations between fishermen’s exporting and importing countries lead to future cross-national collaboration. This study suggests that the Taiwanese government should follow the spirit of the C188 but not be restricted to the Convention texts to amend or formulate regulations and policies of agencies for fully protecting the rights of migrant fishermen.

Studies have shown the abundance of fisheries resources in the waters of the northern part of the Philippines bordering southern Taiwan. However, discrepancies in legal frameworks, enforcement mechanisms, and cultural practices, as well as maritime boundary issues, contribute to complexities in collaboration. This paper thus aims to provide an understanding into the intricacies and challenges faced by both countries in managing their shared fishing resources. By analyzing the relevant international laws and instruments on fisheries cooperation, the paper shows what coastal states and entities fishing in the high seas could do to manage and conserve fishery resources in disputed areas. Existing fisheries agreements in the region such as the Taiwan–Japan Fisheries Cooperation provide a template of the kind of cooperation that can be concluded within the overlapping waters of both nations. Results of the analysis show how important it is for both nations to acknowledge the significance of fisheries cooperation in the overlapping waters. By recognizing the mutual benefits of sustainable resource management through peaceful dialogue, establishing a fisheries cooperation under the legal framework of the WCPFC is the logical solution. The findings contribute to understanding the complexities of cross-border fisheries cooperation and provide valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders in the region.

This study identifies and explores the key factors and issues that influence Taiwanese consumer behavior and preferences when it comes to the consumption of white shrimp. It aims to increase consumer confidence in, and purchase intention for, private-brand white shrimp and to develop marketing strategies and models for farmers who operate a self-produced, self-sold model. This study adopted the Alphabet theory and EKB modeling to obtain a holistic picture of white shrimp purchase behavior and consumer preferences. A semi-questionnaire was conducted with 921 consumers of white shrimp between November 2020 and March 2021, of which 787 questionnaires were valid and used in this study. Our study revealed the following noteworthy points. Freshness and drug residue are the two main concerns of white shrimp purchasers. The results of the consumer study show the existence of statistically significant differences between the defined segments in terms of general characteristics, consumption habits and behavior, and motivation for product awareness and purchase intention, as well as determination of the option of obtaining white shrimp for consumption. Our findings suggest that there is a significant correlation between product awareness and purchase intention. This has a number of practical implications for the self-produced, self-sold aquaculture farmer. In particular, it highlights the importance of the following: 1. establishing connection and trust by business model innovation, 2. improving product image and value, 3. providing product safety information to increase purchase intention and willingness to pay, and 4. developing production and sale plans in response to market demand.

Cimei Island is a second-class outlying island. In recent years, due to the lack of coastal fishery resources and restrictions on traffic and climate, the traditional fishery and tourism industries that residents rely on for a living have faced challenges. This research is based on the Barbados Programme of Action, from the perspective of environmental conservation, industrial economy, and social development in sustainable development, and from the perspective of local stakeholders, to construct a sustainable tourism action approach and development mechanism in Cimei Island. A qualitative research method was adopted. Various sources of data, including focus discussions and in-depth interviews with local stakeholders, textual materials, and field observations, were collected and analyzed. The results are as follows: (1) Cimei faces great threats in social, economic, and environmental aspects, which has led to Cimei Islands’ promotion of permanent development. (2) The current development of Cimei cannot effectively drive industrial development or the transformation of fishing villages. However, residents are worried that overdevelopment will impact the ecological environment and lifestyle on the Islands. (3) Cimei’s sustainable tourism development approach should be to first take inventory of the ecological environment and cultural resources, plan related environmental laws and regulations, and finally, use sustainable tourism to drive industrial development to carry out island development.

Although the GDP of the fishery sector accounts for less than 0.3% of Taiwan’s GDP, there are many secondary and tertiary industries related to fisheries that add great value to the country’s economy. Therefore, when analyzing and calculating the output value and value added of the fishery sector, the relevance of these upstream and downstream industries should be considered jointly, and the value chain of the fishery industry should be studied and analyzed in order to truly present the value added created by fishery. This study aims to do this by first analyzing not only the primary fishery industry, but the value chain of the fishery industry at different stages such as fishery production, marine fishing, aquaculture, fishery processing, retail and services, and supportive systems. Then the value added of the whole fishery value chain to Taiwan’s GDP is estimated by using the Leontief input–output model, from the perspective of industry linkages and covering the period from 2011 to 2018. The empirical results suggest that the value added created by fishery and related industries accounted for 2.96% of the GDP in 2011, which rose to 3.11% in 2014, fell to 2.87% in 2015, rose to 2.93% in 2017, and fell to 2.84% in 2018. From 2011 to 2018, the amount of value added created by fisheries and related industries rose from NT$ 422.8 billion to NT$ 520.9 billion. The primary fishery sector has the largest contribution, followed by the fishery input sector, and transportation and sale service sector, and the fishery product processing sector has the lowest contribution rate. The empirical results provide important implications and references to the policy makers.

BACKGROUND:Abnormal expression of serum TGF-β1 was found in patients with diabetic nephropathy. However, the association of TGF-β1 with the risk of diabetic nephropathy remains unknown. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether such an association exists. METHODS:We searched the Chinese VIP, Wangfang, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar databases for relevant studies and extracted all eligible data. Stata12 software was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS:Nine reports met our criteria and were used for data extraction. There were 264 patients and 227 healthy controls from qualified reports in this meta-analysis. The results suggested that serum TGF-β1 levels were significantly up-regulated in patients with diabetic nephropathy; the instrumental variable was 3.94 (95% confidence interval 3.20-4.68, p

In the title compound, C16H16ClN, the dihedral angle between the benzene rings is 24.61 (13)°. In the crystal, only van der Waals interactions occur between neighbouring molecules.

The title compound, C11H8O3, was isolated from Impatiens balsamina plants (balsam, LIB) grown in our laboratory. The two six-membered rings of the naphthalene-1,4-dione unit are coplanar [maximum deviation = 0.009 (1) Å]. The O and C atoms of the methoxy substituent also lie close to the naphthalene plane, with deviations of 0.0090 (2) and 0.047 (2) Å, respectively.

In the title compound, C15H18ClNO4S·H2O, the thiazolidine ring displays a half-chair conformation. In the crystal, the water molecules are linked to the organic acid molecules via intermolecular O—H...O hydrogen bonds.