These ports serve as home base for Taiwan's fishing fleet. The larger ones have evolved into seafood centers selling daily catches from local boats, farmed seafood from aquaculture operations, imported frozen seafood from international suppliers, and various processed seafood products.

The nine Category 1 ports—Zhengbin and Badouzi in Keelung City, Wushi and Nanfangao in Yilan County, Hsinchu Fishing Port in Hsinchu City, Wuqi in Taichung City, Anping in Tainan City, Qianzhen in Kaohsiung City, and Donggang Yanpu in Pingtung County—have increasingly developed tourist attractions alongside their commercial operations.

Wholesale markets move catches to fish markets, supermarkets, and restaurants across Taiwan through late-night negotiations. Tourist markets and traditional markets handle retail sales directly to consumers.

The Wholesale Auction Process Has Itself Become a Tourist Draw

Before formal fish markets existed in Taiwan, fishermen and consumers traded through private dealers who brokered sales and collected commissions. During the Japanese colonial period, authorities enacted the Water Product Control Order, establishing distribution control associations with government-set prices.

The colonial administration created specialized fish markets for seafood, operated by cooperatives and public organizations under regulated auction systems. Later, the Taiwan Suisan Kabushiki Kaisha (Taiwan Water Products Corporation) centralized management of fish markets and aquatic commerce.

Today, northern Taiwan's largest wholesale operation is Keelung's Kanzaiding Fish Market, where auctioneers call out bids from their stalls. In the south, Donggang Fish Auction in Pingtung County ranks among Taiwan's top producers of tuna and billfish; it leads the island in locally caught bluefin tuna.