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Regulations for marine park office approved

The government's goal of setting up Taiwan's first marine national park, the Dongsha Atoll National Park (東沙環礁國家公園) in the South China Sea, took a step forward on Sunday as the Executive Yuan approved regulations establishing a park management office.

The new Marine National Park Administration is to be housed in a building Kaohsiung's Central Park, an official from the Ministry of the Interior's Construction and Planning Administration said.

The marine park administration will have 40 staff members assigned to four departments at its head office and will have an outpost in the Dongsha Islands (東沙群島), the official said.

However, because the building that will house the new marine park administration requires a facelift, no formal inauguration date has been set.

"Once the government's 2007 budget bill clears the legislature, the renovation project will get underway and be completed within two months," the official said.

The marine park administration plans to recruit oceanologists, conservationists and environmental engineering experts, the official said, adding that marine resources management specialists would also be recruited at a later stage.

The Dongsha Islands are located 445km southwest of Kaohsiung and consist of Dongsha Island itself and two coral reefs that are completely submerged at high tide.

The government built a national monument on Dongsha Island on June 30, 1989, and an adjacent structure to protect the monument on May 18, 1993, to assert Taiwan's sovereignty over the area.

The establishment of a marine national park administration has taken on more urgency because the marine resources and natural ecology in the area have been gravely damaged by destructive fishing methods that include the use of poison and explosives, the official said.

At three times the area of Taipei City, the official said the archipelago boasts the largest and most unspoiled group of atolls in the western Pacific Ocean.

With a unique marine ecosystem, the official said, the coral reefs off Dongsha Island are still the most pristine in Taiwan's territorial waters.

The area is known for its biodiversity, with 489 fish species and about 200 coral species.

In the initial stage, the official said, the park administration will give priority to drafting an overall development plan, survey the ecosystem and analyze the impact of infrastructure construction.

The park will require NT$690 million (US$20.7 million) to establish, with NT$280 million to be spent on setting up catchment and desalination facilities and an international research station.
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