With the typhoon season making its grand, destructive debut in Taiwan, the fishing industry of the Chinese territory struggles again to float from deep water.
Typhoon Soulik is the first typhoon to hit the region this season, displacing homes and destroying some coastal villages. Recent reports said that casualties already included one fatality and hundreds of missing people in Taiwan.
Months prior, Taiwan's fishing industry was put in the international spotlight when members of the Philippine Coast Guard killed a Taiwanese fisherman who allegedly strayed from the country's economic fishing zone.
Issues on international maritime laws and overlapping territorial claims were raised. Locals believe that there have been no efforts from the Taiwanese government to address the regulations and scope of the fishing industry. Adding to that, local fishermen have been asking for better wages and the lowering of access fees.
The local fishing industry has been sinking even before the typhoon season, and local analysts are anxious whether it will sink deeper now that the typhoon season is expected to halt any industry progress.
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