Taiwan has long history of fishery operations and contributes significantly to the global fishery catch, however datasets containing spatial and temporal abundances gleaned from these operations were not commonly publicly available. In this study, we digitize historical catch records from government fishery reports for 9 commercial species caught by otter trawl, reported monthly from 1970 to 2001 from the East and South China Seas. We divide this dataset into four seasons and present results from 1970-1988 (a period with consistently high fishing effort) using a multispecies spatio-temporal analysis. We apply a model that estimates covariation in multispecies catch rates, attributed to spatial habitat preferences and environmental responses, and which estimates indices that represent trends in abundance and distribution shift. We find substantial spatial, temporal and spatio-temporal variation in the distribution of fishes. Moreover, all species have high co-occurrence. Estimates of abundance show substantial declines for 5/9 species in the spring, summer, and fall, and the center-of-distribution for these species has generally moved northeastward.  We conclude by recommending collaborative work from various adjacent countries to digitalize historical records of fishing catch rates. These records promise to illuminate long-standing disagreements regarding fishing impacts in the East and South China Seas.