According to the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), Taiwan was possibly the world's largest market for whale shark meat. Some 32.5 tonnes of meat were obtained from legal harvests in 2004 in a survey of only two major wholesale fishery markets, one in Taipei, the other in Taichung. The same year, Taiwanese consumed 68.5 tonnes of whale shark. Conservationists have long pushed for the government to ban the trade and consumption of whale shark meat. Data collected by the National Ocean University in Keelung shows that both the number and average size of whale sharks sighted in Taiwanese waters has declined slowly but steadily over the past six years. The Council of Agriculture's Fisheries Regulation Division says it has been monitoring the situation and decided in 2000 to phase out whale shark fishing, an official said.
