To accelerate renewable energy, Taiwan established offshore wind facilities along the coast of Changhua, aiming for 20% renewable energy by 2025 under its 2023 Climate Change Response Act. To protect the installations, the Maritime and Port Bureau issued Navigation Guidelines in 2021 without consulting residents or fishers. These rules imposed three main restrictions: (1) a navigation ban in wind farm channels, (2) a fishing ban in corridors and separation zones, and (3) a mandatory reporting duty for vessels, with fines for violations. Fishers, supported by the Fisheries and Environment Center and the Environmental Rights Foundation, appealed the measures, arguing they unlawfully restricted their rights and were imposed without consultation. Although partly successful on appeal, they pursued an administrative lawsuit to prevent similar future rules.

In May 2025, the court ruled in favor of the fishers and annulled the guidelines. It found that while the Bureau could designate channels under the Navigation Aids Act, it had no authority to impose mandatory reporting or navigation bans with fines. The court also emphasized that comparable international shipping lanes (e.g. Singapore, Strait of Gibraltar) do not prohibit fishing vessels, even under heavier traffic. The restrictions were deemed disproportionate, inconsistent with international law, and imposed without adequate stakeholder consultation.

The decision highlights the tension between Taiwan’s push for renewable energy and the protection of traditional fishing rights. 

Fishers v. Ministry of Transportation and Communications

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Fishers v. Ministry of Transportation and Communications - judgment

Filed

Taiwan

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

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Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

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Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Kinetic energy of airflow transformed into useful energy, mostly electrical energy.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

Fishers v. Ministry of Transportation and Communications - judgment

Policy instrument

Renewable energy

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance