NCC Section Chief Lin met with Director Luo of the Fisherman’s Association of Changhua to exchange opinions concerning the announcement of administrative regulations on ship radio stations. The Fisherman’s Association of Changhua is considered as the frontline service and the best public and private partnership to announce new regulations. The meeting, which took place on October 15, is indicative of the willingness of NCC to coordinate effectively with associative units.

Ship radio stations enable communications in various capacities, but, most importantly, allow users to transmit distress messages during emergency situations. As such, shipowners should adhere to the regulations when setting-up the ship radio station, namely apply for an establishment permit to the NCC, which shall issue the license following inspection. Shipowners are also required to apply for renewal of the license before its expiration date. Morever, if the application for license renewal was not submitted, shipowners would need to re-apply either for setting-up a new ship radio station or for expiration of the license. Upon expiration, shipowners are also required to apply to undertake supervised destruction of the device or its sealing.

During the discussions, Director Luo noted that the jurisdiction of Fisherman’s Association of Changhua includes Wen-Zi, Luen-Wei, and Wang-Gong fishing ports consisting of approximately 600 fishing vessels, most of which are rubber rafts and smaller boats that are primarily used for offshore fishing and aquaculture.