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Pratas Islands may host nation's first marine park

The country's first national marine park may be established in August in the Pratas Islands (東沙群島) to protect coral reefs and marine life in the area, the Construction and Planning Agency said yesterday.

The agency, under the Ministry of the Interior, has finished drafting the plan for the Pratas Islands National Marine Park and will send the documents to the Executive Yuan for review this month. Once authorized, the park can be established in August.

Wu Hsiang-chien (王祥堅), director of the park's preparatory committee, said that when finished, the park would occupy roughly three times the area of Taipei City.

The center of the marine park will be on the main Pratas Island (東沙島) and stretch out into the surrounding reefs and ocean with a 12 nautical mile (22km) radius.

Wu said the main reason for the park was to shelter marine life, because many fishermen in the area use poison and explosives to catch fish, since nets cannot be used among the reefs.

To protect the fish and the reefs, the agency decided to establish a marine park, Wu said.

"The coral reefs in the ocean are like the rain forests on land," Wu said.

"They carry so many marine species that we must protect," he said.

Wu said that members of the committee had visited Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and invited the former director of the park to Taiwan to exchange views on marine life and protection.

Protecting marine life has become a priority in many countries around the world, with many countries establishing marine parks to protect coral reefs and fish, Wu said.

According to international standards, 20 percent to 40 percent of the world's oceans need to be protected from over-development, Wu said, adding that Taiwan should follow the trend and protect its oceans as well.

However, the Pratas islands marine park will not be opened for tourism any time soon, Wu said.

There will be a five-year period for reefs and marine life to rejuvenate before evaluations are made to see whether the area would be fit to allow tourists to visit, he said.

Even if tourists were to be allowed in the future, it will be in the form of nature tours in designated areas and the number of people will be limited, Wu said.

Also, at the moment the island only has one airport, which is not very developed, and there are no ports suitable for tourist arrivals, he said.

Wu said that problems such as electricity and fresh water provision, as well as sewage treatment, needed to be worked out before any tourists could be allowed on the island.

"For now, we hope to protect the environment in the area. As for tourists, evaluations can be made in the future," Wu said.
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