The ice making plant at Hualien Fishing Port has been shut down for two years, and fishermen have to transport ice from Yilan Nannan. Executive Director Zhuo Rongtai visited Hualien Fishing Port today (29th) for an inspection. People First Party Chairman James Soong was also present to show concern. Zhuo Rongtai said on the spot that the central subsidy rate for the new ice storage plant and freezer at Hualien Fishing Port will be increased from the current approximately 50% to 70%. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Department will rent or purchase ice-making equipment as soon as possible before the completion of the project, and fishermen cannot continue to borrow ice across counties.
Zhuo Rongtai first inspected the Matai'an River embankment project in the morning, and then went to Hualien Fishing Port to receive a briefing. He said that James Soong called after seeing the news a few days ago to remind the government to pay attention to the ice production problem at Hualien Fishing Port. This is also a major matter for food safety and fishermen's livelihood. He said that it is very important to go from the origin of agricultural products to the table, and the same is true from the fishing port to the table. The whole society cannot afford another food safety incident, so subsidies must be increased immediately, and ice-making equipment at fishing ports in various places must be comprehensively reviewed to see if there are insufficient ice-making equipment.
In his speech, James Soong said that he visited more than 80 fishing ports during his tenure as chairman of Taiwan Province. The most important concept of ice treatment equipment is preservation, which is also related to food safety. He saw reports that the Hualien Ice Factory has been operating since the Japanese colonial period. There are more than 400 fishing boats in Hualien Fishing Port. They have to borrow ice from Suao Port when going to sea. This surprised him. If he was still in the provincial government, this kind of matter would not bother the executive director. The local government should handle it.
Soong Chuyu said that the most urgent thing at this stage is not to build a building, but to find a transitional method before the new factory is completed. He suggested that the Ministry of Agriculture or the county government lease or purchase ice machines and put them in fishing ports for use first. "This is by no means difficult, it just needs someone to do it." He said that the health of the people who eat fish and the livelihood of fishermen must be taken care of, and the government must use actions rather than slogans to prove that it values fishermen.
Agriculture Minister Chen Junji said that the waters off Hualien are close to the Kuroshio reflux zone and are rich in migratory fish species such as ghost swordfish and mambo. The local fixed net and fishing fisheries are developed, and preservation is the key to fishery quality. The Ministry of Agriculture will invest in two phases of cold chain construction starting in 2021, with a total investment of more than 19 billion yuan. The purpose is to establish a national cold chain network. Fishing boats must have sufficient ice before going to sea, and they must also have refrigeration equipment after returning to the port. The Ministry of Agriculture continues to discuss these plans with the county government and fishermen's associations, and fully supports the Hualien Fishing Port's plan of about 120 million yuan.
Lin Lianghan, Director General of the Hualien District Fisheries Association, pointed out in a briefing that the Hualien Fishing Port has a total of 416 fishing boats (rafts) for fishing, longline fishing, sailfish and fry harvesting, as well as 7 fixed net operators, 4 of which handle and unload in the port; the fishing season is from March to June and October to December every year, and the fishery production volume in 2025 is about 2,000 tons. The daily ice demand is about 150 pieces (about 12 to 15 metric tons) in the peak season and about 40 pieces (about 3 to 4 metric tons) in the off-season.
Lin Lihan said that the total cost of the new construction of the ice storage plant and freezer was 121,947,782 yuan. The original plan was to apply for a subsidy of 70% from the Fisheries Department, with the county government subsidying 15% and the fishermen's association raising 15%. The new factory has a 2-story steel frame RC structure. The first floor is a freezer, including 5 rooms of 10 square meters and 1 room of 15 square meters, with a total area of about 951 square meters. The temperature is minus 25 degrees. The second floor is an ice storage warehouse, which can store up to 624 ice cubes. It can adjust about 3,792 metric tons of fish every year, stabilizing the supply and demand of fish products and improving the quality of fish products.
The Hualien Fishing Port Ice Factory was established during the Japanese colonial period. Bullet holes from the machine guns fired by U.S. fighter planes can still be seen on the outer wall. It bears witness to the historical facts of the U.S. bombing of Hualien at the end of World War II. Due to old structural equipment and earthquakes, the building became dangerous. The steel bars and structures of the inner and outer walls were exposed. This newspaper exclusively reported that fishermen were faced with the dilemma of no ice to go to sea.
The Hualien District Fishermen's Association petitioned the Ministry of Agriculture of the Executive Yuan to build an ice factory. However, since the old ice factory still has legal disputes, the Ministry of Agriculture first subsidized the construction of an ice storage plant and a freezer. The base is located at Land No. 5-3, Meigang Section, Hualien City, with an area of approximately 5,626 square meters (approximately 1,701 square meters). The land belongs to the Taiwan Port Company and has been approved for lease. The skating track is designed from the side, leading directly to the fishing port and fishing boats, allowing ice to be transported directly.
