Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival

Donggang Township in Pingtung County is the biggest fishing port in southern Taiwan. It is exceptionally rich in Bluefin Tuna as a natural resources. The Bluefin Tuna here is the Pacific Bluefin, a subspecies of the Northern Bluefin tuna. It migrates and spawns every year across the Pacific Ocean.

Donggang's catch of Bluefin tuna is arguably no.1 in the world. For the past 10 years, Japan has been the biggest importing country of Donggang's Bluefin Tuna, which occupies 80 percent of the Japanese market. The fresh fish is in such great demand that it needs to be ordered months or even years earlier. As soon as the fishing boats return to the harbor, the fish is air shipped to Japan immediately.

Since 2001, the Pingtung County Government has been hosting the Bluefin Tuna Cultural and Sightseeing Festival. The event aims to stimulate domestic consumption, so that exportation of the fish has actually declined for up to 20 percent. Thanks to the festival, the Bluefin tuna fever is now sweeping across the whole Taiwan.

Other seafood that are famous in Donggang include Sakura shrimp and oilfish. Sakura shrimp is also called Huakezi, or the National Treasure shrimp. It is quite rare around the world and can be found only in waters around Taiwan's Donggang and Japan's Shizuoka. The creature's spawning season is between November and the following June. Interestingly, it is one of the few planktons that are directly edible out of water. The shrimp is full of nutrients, including calories, protein, calcium and phosphorous. Even the dried shrimp is a wonderful seasoning companion for all kinds of dishes. In recent years, Taiwanese manufacturers have been making Sakura shrimp snacks and biscuits of various flavors, which are quite popular.

Oilfish is a genuine local product, found only in Donggang. It obtains its name from its rich-greasy quality, and is perfect and popular for a sashimi dish in restaurants. While people eat its meat, its roe can be made into oilfish roe cake. Slice the roe cake and eat it with garlic sapling and radish, and one would see how delicious the dish is. The mixed taste of sweet and salty makes it a gourmet's favorite.