The Keelung City Government said it would consider further amendments to regulations in order to provide coastal marine areas protections equivalent to those of coastal conservation areas.
The city government made the remarks as it applauded the local fisheries association’s decision on Friday to ban the use of gill nets within 500m of Keelung’s coastal areas and Keelung Islet (基隆嶼).
The city government said it would work toward facilitating cooperation between the city, the association, the Coast Guard Administration and volunteers to rid Keelung Islet of a mess of gill nets in its surrounding waters.
Photo provided by Diving Taiwan
The association said it recently received reports from divers who said that the ocean floor around Keelung Islet was littered with nets, adding that the area’s scenic “rainbow reef” had failed to recover, despite a three-year fishing ban, and had instead worsened.
The situation has already severely affected marine ecology in the area, the association said.
Keelung officials said the city government is also looking into regulations, as the association is considered a legal entity and not part of the government, adding that it was also considering requiring fishermen to affix the license number of their ships to nets.
The city government hopes to enact legislation regulating use of nets by October, the officials said.
According to Tsai Fu-ning (蔡馥嚀), the head of marine affairs at the Keelung Department of Economic Affairs’ Industry and Commerce Division, the city council on Wednesday last week passed the Keelung Self-Autonomous Regulations on Recreational Fishing on Islands and Reefs (基隆市娛樂漁業島礁磯釣自治條例), which allow anglers to fish in waters around the islet.
Prior to the passage of the regulations, anglers were a crucial deterrent to prevent rampant fishing in the area, she said, adding that the city government would continue to amend or establish laws based on the new regulations to protect the marine environment.
Keelung Coastal Area Ships Association chairman Lin Hsin-yung (林新永) said gill nets were too effective in catching entire schools of fish, adding that the nets, if draped over coral reefs, would eventually suffocate reefs that are habitats to certain types of fish.
The loss of coral reefs would greatly affect marine ecology in the area, Lin said.
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