Mon, Feb 23, 2009 page2

• FEATURE: Dongsha: natural treasure and focus of conservation

  PARADISE REGAINED Despite the fact that the island is a military outpost, a commander said visitors would not be a security threat, as ‘off’ areas would remain restricted

  • By Meggie Lu / STAFF REPORTER
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  While many people regard Dongsha Island (東沙島) as a distant, mysterious military base that is off limits to civilians, few may know that the island, which lies 450km west of Kaohsiung, is also an ecological treasure trove.

  In January 2007, the Ministry of the Interior named Dongsha atoll — a coral island that encircles a lagoon — and surrounding waters the nation’s first marine national park. Although Dongsha remains occupied by the Coast Guard Administration, the official in charge of the park, Dongsha Atoll National Park director Wu Chuan-an (吳全安), said his goal was to open the park so people can experience the pristine environment.

  “The government established the park to protect coral reefs and its ecosystem. The park is not only a national treasure, it is a global treasure, and it would be fabulous if people were able to see its wonders,” Wu said in an interview on Dongsha Island last month.

  The Dongsha atoll is an almost-perfect circle with a 25km diameter covering 50,000 hectares, Wu said, adding that with the waters surrounding the atoll, the entire marine national park covers more than 350,000 hectares.

  Dongsha Island, the only inhabited area in the park, is positioned on the circumference and is the accumulation of white sand from shattered coral and seashell erosion, Wu said.

  “The island is an unpolluted environment. Since the end of World War II, it has served as a military base and is only inhabited by about 200 soldiers. As a result, the surrounding waters harbor a rich and unique marine ecology laden with tropical fish, echinoderm, crustaceans, algae and seaweeds,” he said.

  However, in the past decade the Dongsha ecology has been confronted with its worst threat yet, as global warming began to make the water uninhabitable for certain corals, Wu said.

  “Corals are very sensitive to sea water temperatures and die when the water warms. For example, after the 1997 to 1998 El Niño, the coverage rate of corals on the reefs dropped to an alarming 10 percent,” he said.

  A healthy coverage is about 60 percent.

  Wu said that coral reefs are built when living reef-building corals grow on coral skeletons, adding that coverage indicates the percentage of coral skeletons that support live coral growth and is a major index for the health of a reef.

  Fish-bombing — literally using explosives to catch fish — was practiced in the surrounding area, which added another level of damage to the delicate structures until it was banned by the park administration two years ago, Wu said.

  Fortunately, with the efforts of his administration in the past three years, Wu and his team had drastically improved the environment in Dongsha.

  “Coral coverage is now about 40 percent,” he said.

  With the revitalization of the reef, Wu said the organisms that the reef harbors have proliferated.

  “To date, we have documented 281 types of coral, 577 types of fish and seven types of seaweed, as well as mollusks, crustaceans and echinoderms,” he said.

  Aside from conservation efforts in the water, Wu and his administration have also worked on preserving Dongsha Island’s ecological system and historical sites.

  “The island has archeological remains of past activity, including 28 sunken ships in its surrounding waters, tools used by fishermen that date back to the Qing Dynasty and traces of the two Japanese occupations,” Wu said, adding that efforts have been made to preserve the artifacts.

  “Records show that 210 types plants live on the island, 104 of which are indigenous,” Wu said.

  Since 2007, the park administration has launched a major effort to eliminate foreign species so that the proper ecological system can be restored, Wu said.

  But beyond this work, Wu said his team would also start to collaborate with researchers around the globe in their conservation efforts, Wu said.

  “Awareness about protecting oceans has increased internationally, as the adverse effects of environmental damage have increased,” said Lai Wei-chian (賴瑋倩), a researcher at the park administration.

  “In a recent World Conservation Congress in Brazil, it was said that the environmental threat confronting the world is no less severe than the global financial crisis,” Lai said.

  In addition to the effects of global warming, fishing and shipping activities have altered oceanic ecological systems worldwide. Dongsha is affected, too, Lai said.

  “Oceans cover 71 percent of the planet’s surface, providing people with food, transportation and other necessities. And yet, protection of the oceans has been neglected,” she said.

  Although only 1 percent of oceanic areas are under protection, Lai said that “change may be on the way.”

  “Research and statistics have proven that reserves are effective in restoring marine life — both in terms of population and diversity — so an increasing number of countries are creating ‘no-take areas’ where fishing is prohibited.”

  In October, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced a partnership with Google Earth Outreach to make images of protected oceanic regions easily searchable, she said.

  “The goal is to make the information available to the public so that they can play a part in conservation,” she said.

  Turning to his success in restoring Dongsha, Wu said the objective of his team was to open the park to the public once the coral coverage rate has reached 60 percent, which in his estimate would take three more years.

  Although the project would bring new changes, as hotels would have to be built and commercial flights chartered, Wu said the visits would be a positive experience and allow tourists to become more environmentally conscious.

  “Our priority is to open the island for eco-tours. Outsiders who wish to come will only be allowed to do so for research purposes,” Wu said.

  “Of course the number of people needs to be limited. We are still working on how many people we should allow on the island at a time,” he said.

  Asked if opening Dongsha Island to the public would threaten the military, Commander Wang Chia-lin (王嘉遴) was optimistic.

  “Sections where the military operates will be blocked off,” Wang said.

  But the rest of the island would be free for tourists to explore, he said.
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