Thu, Sep 01, 2011 page2

• Environmental activists protest coral reef damage

  SAVING THE CORAL: One activist said the government should establish marine reserves and that the benefits of the policy would have to be explained to local fishermen

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff Reporter
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  The coral reefs off the nation’s eastern coast, especially near Taitung County’s Shanyuan Bay (杉原灣) and Jihuei Fishing Port (基翬漁港), are rapidly being destroyed by construction development along the shore, environmental organizations said yesterday.

  The groups made the statement as they publicized an annual report documenting findings on the health of the nation’s major coral reef habitats.

  This year’s report was the third annual investigation of the nation’s coral reefs. Among the seven areas targeted this year were the northeast coast, Shanyuan Bay and Jihuei Fishing Port, Green Island (綠島), Orchid Island (蘭嶼), Dongyu­ping (東嶼坪) in Penghu County and Siaoliouciou (小琉球).

  

  The Penghu Symbiotic Algae Association director Chen Chao-lun, second right, and other members hold a press conference yesterday calling on the government to stop excessive development of the east coast and protect the ocean from further human encroachment.

  Photo: CNA

  “There is about 30 percent coral cover [the proportion of reef surface covered by live stony coral] off the coast of Taitung, but now the corals reefs are dying as a result of construction dirt washed into the sea,” said Chen Chao-lun (陳昭倫), director of the Penghu Symbiotic Algae Association and a research fellow with the Biodiversity Research Center at Academia Sinica.

  Coral cover at Shanyuan Bay and Jihuei Fish Port had reached a “high” and “medium” percentage rate of decline according to the Reef Check Worldwide organization’s standards, Chen said, adding that more than a hundred species of coral had been recorded in the waters of Shanyuan Bay, including the rare species of Oulophyllia bennettae.

  After 25 years of diving and observing coral habitats, Chen said he had seen first hand that many beautiful coral reefs are actually very fragile and being seriously damaged by onshore construction, with observations showing about 7 percent of coral was killed this year, compared with only about 1 percent to 2 percent last year.

  Association secretary-general Chen Jui-pin (陳瑞賓) said the survey demonstrated that the marine environment was being severely impacted by onshore developments, suggesting that future environmental impact assessments conducted on major construction projects in coastal areas should include an assessment of impacts on the local marine environment.

  He also urged the government to establish marine reserves to preserve the local marine environment.

  Further talks with fishermen would also be necessary to explain to them the potential benefits of sustainable fishing, which could be achieved by setting up marine reserves, Chen Jui-pin added.

  Taitung County Chenggung Hometown Caring Association chief secretary Sung Ming-yan (宋明燕) said there are currently a number of development projects near Jihuei Fishing Port, including an amusement park.

  The developers are destroying the local environment without the consent of local residents, Sung said.

  Dayuang Huang (黃苑蓉), a representative of the Erythrina Tribe ­(刺桐部落), an Aboriginal community living near the construction site of the beachfront Meiliwan Resort Hotel (美麗灣渡假村) at Shanyuan Bay, said that although the courts had ordered the project be stopped, the developers had ignored the ruling and had been given permission by the county government to continue building the resort.

  Local residents have witnessed unrecognizable waste and dirt being buried under the sand at Shanyuan Bay on numerous occasions, Huang said.

  He expressed concern that the project would not only damage the natural beauty of the beach, but also destroy the ecosystem of traditional fishing grounds.
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