Taiwan's fishing fleet numbers over 16,000 boats and employs nearly 400,000 fishermen. Deepsea fishing boats, which make up just 22.5 percent of the total, account for the largest portion of the catch.
若把遠洋、近海與沿岸捕漁所有的漁船算在一起，台灣地區總共有一萬六千多艘船日日夜夜地在海上作業，漁民人口估計也接近四十萬。由漁船的數目上看，遠洋漁船是最少的，只佔全部的百分之廿二點五，但漁獲量卻比近海及沿岸漁船的總數還要多。