VIEW THIS PAGE Thirty kilometers from Taitung City off the southeastern coast of Taiwan lies Green Island, a tiny islet of only 16.2km?with about 2,000 residents.
Previously overlooked by vacationers, the island was better known as the place to which the government banished political prisoners during the martial law period from 1949 to 1987. The old prison stands as a stark reminder of that dark chapter in Taiwanese history. A second prison remains active.
Also detracting from the island’s travel destination appeal was the notorious boat ride from Taitung. A strong current runs through the nearby waters making the boat ride choppy and some passengers seasick. Vomit bags are provided at every seat.
Despite these factors, in recent years tourists have flocked here, with hundreds to thousands arriving daily during the peak summer season.
Visitors come because Green Island has everything else going for it: a beautiful landscape, spectacular rock formations jutting out from the shore, ocean views, green hills and open spaces, a laid-back atmosphere and perhaps most important of all — beautiful coral reefs.
It’s especially popular with snorkelers, scuba divers, swimmers and people who just want some peace and quiet away from grind of urban life.
Green Island’s beautiful scenery is the result of its having been formed by ancient volcanic activity. Over the years, wind and tides have sculpted the rocks along the coastline into shapes supposedly resembling people and animals, hence their names: Sleeping Beauty (睡美人), Pekinese Dog (哈巴狗), Ox Head Hill (牛頭山) and Confucius Rock (孔子岩). Trying to figure out which rock is which can provide some idle entertainment.
But perhaps the most popular attraction is found underwater.
Coral reefs surround the island, providing refuge for a wide range of marine life. More than 150 species of hard coral and at least 50 types of soft coral are believed to exist in the surrounding waters. Some of the species are unique to the Black Tide, a strong current in the northern part of the western Pacific Ocean, which begins off Taiwan’s east coast and flows northwest.
The underwater scenery around Green Island is considered some of the best in the world, according to Taiwanese diving experts who have dived in other popular places such as Palau, the Philippines and Malaysia.
Divers and snorkelers head to the Shihlang Diving Area (石朗潛水區), Chaikou Diving Area (柴口潛水區), and Dabaisha Diving Area (大白沙潛水區), which is also good for swimming.
Even non-swimmers can enjoy the rich coral resources because they lie in shallow waters.
For those who don’t want to get their feet wet, glass-bottom boats offer rides that can open one’s eyes to the marine world.
Yet the island is confronted by challenges it has never faced before because of increased tourism and over-fishing.
Although there are only 2,000 long-term residents, 6,000 motorbikes are registered on Green Island to cater to the tourist market. Most tourists prefer to whisk around the normally placid island road by scooter than by bicycle, despite a campaign by the local office of the Tourism Bureau to promote the latter.
Tourists who don’t know how to dive or snorkel also damage the coral when they float in groups on the shallow water, said Lin Su-ling (林抒琳), recreation section chief of the Tourism Bureau’s East Coast National Scenic Area Administration.
“They get scared in the water so they stand up, stepping on the corals,” said Lin.
Her office hopes to improve the quality of tourism on the island.
“We hope tourists will spend two or three days in Green Island, instead of rushing around, so that they can enjoy the peaceful atmosphere, help the local economy by staying in the homestays, and learn to snorkel or dive properly,” said Lin.
Islanders are also contributing to the destruction of the natural environment. Local fishermen use methods that harm the fishery resources, including fishing “guns” (actually spears), fish bombs and overfishing — causing a drastic reduction in coral reef fish, except at two areas that are protected, residents said.
“The coral is still very pretty. Green Island’s coral reefs are among the top 10 in the world. The biggest problem is the fish are almost all gone,” said Yu Ming-hung (俞明宏), a local diving instructor of the Flying Fish Diving Center (飛魚潛水). Yu remembers seeing significantly more fish when he moved from Taipei to Green Island four years ago.
The fishermen also lure the fish to the water’s surface with bright lights at night and catch even small fish, not just the mature ones.
“Fish near corals should be protected,” Yu said. “It takes several years for the fish to grow to maturity.”
Alarmed by the environmental damage, some residents have formed the Green Island Township Ecology Protection Association (綠島生態保護協會), which is urging the government to do more to protect the island’s precious natural resources, such as by encouraging fishermen to change their methods or helping them transition into other careers as coastal clean-up crews or protection workers.
“There are only about 25 people who depend on fishing for a living or for their own food; the government can easily stop the destruction to fishery resources by giving these people other jobs,” said association head Tien Hui-hung (田輝鴻).
Coral reef fish may contain ciguatoxin, which can harm the brain and nervous system, but restaurants buy the fish from the fishermen and consumers eat them because the fish look pretty and are tasty, Yu said. But the level of ciguatoxin in the fish is apparently not high enough to have caused local consumers to get sick.
The Taitung County government office in charge of managing the fishery industry said inappropriate fishing is not the only cause of the problem. Climate change has also caused the fish population to decline, county officials said, but they said that laws currently allow fishermen to use harmful methods, such as lights at night, and fishing is allowed in all coral reef areas around the island, except the two small protected zones — the Shihlang Diving Area (石朗潛水區) and Chaikou Diving Area (柴口潛水區), which on a map look like two dots on the coastline.
Although the economic downturn and several typhoons caused the number of tourists to drop to 310,000 last year, down from about 380,000 in recent years, the number of people visiting Green Island is expected to increase in the long term.
As people cut back on overseas travel due to the lack of year-end bonuses or salary raises, Green Island may be seen as a perfect option — one that is easy to get to and inexpensive.
Tourists, however, can do a lot to protect Green Island’s ecology by simply renting bicycles instead of scooters, taking care to not damage coral when they are in the water, and not ordering coral reef fish on menus. VIEW THIS PAGE
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