The Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Jan. 22 reported that Kenting National Park Headquarters has designated 10 “fishing spots” to regulate pole and line fishing operations in the waters of the national park, which took effect on Monday.
The measure, which aims to save the area’s collapsing marine ecology as well as exhausted fishery resources in the seas surrounding Taiwan, has sparked many complaints from the public and raised doubts among local environmental groups.
However, there was nothing rushed about this decision, either in its arrival or its execution. It was the result of two years of scientific research, and the fishing spots were chosen based on coral reef ecology and fish diversity data.
As the host of the research project, I must say that the planning and execution of the measure were the result of a lot of hard work on the part of everyone at the headquarters. Although some fishermen’s protests and local environmental groups’ discontent were to be expected, we made great efforts toward saving aquatic wildlife in the nation’s waters.
In his book Taiwan Unbound (如果台灣的四周是海洋), published last year, writer Rex How (郝明義) urged the government to address the collapse and exhaustion of fishery resources in the nation’s waters.
Academia Sinica Biodiversity Research Center research fellow Shao Kwang-tsao (邵廣昭), among others, also published a paper in Scientific Data, an online journal by the renowned Nature Publishing Group, about the collection and analysis of data on fish diversity in the waters of northern Taiwan over the past 30 years. The paper presented clear evidence of overfishing in the waters. If no effective measure is taken soon, the “desertification” of Taiwan’s marine ecology might become a reality.
In getting to the root of the problem of declining diversity in aquatic wildlife and the gradual exhaustion of fishery resources, the waters of the national park serve as a good example. Established more than three decades ago in 1982, the national park was created to promote terrestrial ecology and landscape conservation in that area.
As the national park was transformed from a scenic spot to a forest recreation area, the promotion of tourism and recreation is the responsibility of the headquarters, which has focused on conservation since its transformation. This national park was established with a “terrestrial view,” and marine ecology conservation was just one of many tasks.
However, after the development of coastal areas and the number of tourists increased following the creation of a night market, the demand for fish also increased.
It was at that point that the park’s administration finally realized the importance of taking an “oceanic view.” Fishermen were catching fish almost everywhere and tourists were able to go snorkeling wherever they wanted along the coast of the park at that time. During that period — in which keeping the public happy was the greatest priority — headquarters staff were put under pressure and left willing but unable to handle related conservation issues, while the park’s waters inched toward desertification.
In planning the 10 fishing spots, the park’s administration hoped to promote several concepts, such as centralizing fishermen for better management, a “user pays” principle regarding public goods, more guarantees that local residents are to benefit from economic activity in the area and management of public goods by fishermen’s associations.
Most coral reef fish, shrimp and shellfish are considered wildlife. Just like Formosan sika deer, the Taiwan black bear and the Formosan clouded leopard, such aquatic wildlife is not raised to be eaten. More importantly, they play an instrumental role in the health of the ecosystem of coral reefs, the deterioration of which can be attributed to the overfishing of coral reef fish. After discovering the hot spots for coral reef fish through scientific research, the headquarters is enhancing protection in the conservation zones in the hopes that fish will flow to fishing spots open to the public through a “spillover effect.”
Meanwhile, through management by fishermen’s associations, profits from fishing can be returned to the community and put toward a patrol fund. The cycle will ensure the survival of aquatic wildlife and the sustainable development of natural resources, creating a win-win situation not only for the headquarters, but also local residents and fishermen. What is there really to complain about?
Illegal snorkeling, fish shooting and gillnet fishing can all be monitored and reported by multiple aforementioned forces. This kind of “feedback management” of natural resources has proven successful in many other nations with coral reef ecosystems, while Taiwan, which has focused purely on freshwater fish, is lagging behind.
The Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections already turned the nation’s political scene on its head and marked the first step toward progress. It is hoped that the headquarters’ new policy to manage fishing spotsis the first step in the protection of the nation’s water and marine environment.
Allen Chen is a research fellow at the Biodiversity Research Center of Academia Sinica.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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