A disappearing underwater rainforest

Several years ago, Professor Soong Ke-yi (宋克義) of Chungshan University brought to light the discovery of a 16m-high and 31m-wide coral reef -- the largest ever seen. The giant bell-shaped coral was discovered by divers in Green Island's Nan-liao Bay (南寮灣). Since then, the abundance of Taiwan's marine resources have drawn the attention of the international academic community, divers and ocean lovers from every corner of the planet.

Such international attention for something that cannot easily be visited led to the creation of the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium (國立海洋生物博物館) in Kenting National Park, which boasts to be the largest in Asia. The aquarium, open since July of this year, features living coral reefs, fresh and saltwater species of fish and a high-tech virtual reality show of oceanic life. Thousands of tourists, most of them packed into tour buses, come from all corners of Taiwan each week to the newly opened site.

Situated at the southern tip of Taiwan, Kenting is privileged to have the first encounter with the famously warm black tide. When it reaches the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), the tide splits in two, with one part flowing directly into the Kenting area, bringing with it an abundance of marine organisms. For this reason alone, Kenting is home to some 60 percent of the various species of coral reef to be found in the world.

"If there was no coral reef, there would be no Kenting," said Professor Dai Chang-feng (戴昌鳳) of the Institute of Oceanography at National Taiwan University.

When people visit this exquisitely beautiful national park, coral can be seen almost everywhere on the ground and surrounding hillsides. Before being forced above the surf through millennia of tectonic movements, the reefs were home to the most varied species of marine organisms in the world.

However, two recent typhoons, Toraji and Nari, devastated not only the land in Taiwan, but its surrounding reefs as well. A layer of silt as much as a meter thick now lies where Taiwan's rivers meet the sea. Coral-rich Kenting is no exception. The torrent of rain brought by the typhoons caused serious flooding and mudslides and carried huge amounts of silt and debris downriver to the shallow-water areas in Kenting, where precious coral reefs and abundant marine life dwell.

According to a study by marine biologist Cheng Ming-siou (鄭明修), there are approximately 2,350 species of fish living in the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean areas immediately surrounding Taiwan. Of these, 1,500 mostly smaller-sized fish live in and around coral reefs.

Nonetheless, the ecological impact on the coral reefs in Kenting brought by these two typhoons is immeasurable, as Professor Dai, who is also president of the Taiwan Coral Reef Society, points out. "We have paid a lot of attention to disaster areas on land since the 921 earthquake occurred in 1999," he told the Taipei Times. "It's about time we turn our attention to the even greater disasters under the sea and in Taiwan's coastal regions."

Ecologically conscious people used to blame Nuclear Power Plant No. 3 for coral bleaching in Kenting. Yet the high-temperature water released by the plant into Kenting's Nanwan (南灣), or South Bay is not the only killer. With nearly four million people flocking to Kenting every year, many scuba divers carelessly trample on the shallow-water reefs, causing serious damage. Some miscreants even carve their names in the coral.