Before 1997, Myxine formosana was captured with plastic shrimp traps (365 cm length, 16 cm diameter) off southwestern Taiwan by the fishermen from Tong-Kung (Mok and Kuo, 2001). It was a small fishery but activity was intensive across the species' currently known distribution range. It is not known exactly how many vessels were operating within the fishery. It should be noted that since the late 1990's, the fishery has ceased, likely due to major decline in population abundance levels.