The Trust in Nature Foundation yesterday called for a comprehensive coastline protection policy after finding that Taiwan’s coastlines are threatened by artificial structures that cause excessive erosion.
The foundation began surveying the nation’s coasts ten years ago and identified nine priority areas. After returning this year, it found that only 23.3 percent of the sites within these protected areas remained free of human-made objects.
The original survey documented 383 locations across 15 counties and cities, highlighting issues such as marine waste, artificial coastlines and improper recreational activities, said Chen Tzu-jung (陳姿蓉), director of the foundation’s environmental issues department.
Photo courtesy of the Trust in Nature Foundation
Nine priority coasts were selected for protection at the time, which were revisited this year to determine how the situation has changed and to provide policy recommendations, Chen added.
The new survey covered 103 of the original locations and 300km of coastline, Chen said.
The nine selected areas were reefs in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音), Taoyuan’s Caota Sand Dunes (草漯沙丘), Yuanli (苑裡) beach in Miaoli County, Sishu (喜樹) to Shuangchun (雙春) in Tainan, Changhua County’s coastal wetlands, Manfeng (滿豐) to Nanren (南仁) Fishing Harbor (南仁漁港) in Pingtung County, Jhuan Village (竹安) to Nanao Township (南澳) in Yilan County, Shiti Harbor (石梯港) in Hualien County to Changbin Township (長濱) in Taitung County and the coast between Nanren Fishing Port in Pingtung and Nantian Village (南田) in Taitung County.
The new survey found that across these nine priority locations, only 23.3 percent were natural coastlines without artificial structures. By comparison, 37.9 percent of the selected sites were affected by concrete installations such as wave-dissipating blocks, seawalls and fishing ports; 35 percent were used for transportation and recreational facilities and 3.9 percent were occupied by green energy facilities.
Wave-dissipating blocks were traditionally used to mitigate erosion, but recent studies show that they can actually make the problem worse, project manager Chou No-heng (周諾恆)said.
The blocks also require costly maintenance, Chou said, adding that people should instead seek to reduce damage to coastlines by using more ecological methods, such as offshore reefs.
Threats to the coasts cannot be solved solely through community monitoring or a pause on development, and the government should work with the public to create a future with no coastline loss, foundation director Sun Hsiu-ju (孫秀如) said.
Stagnation is regression, so although these coastlines remained mostly the same, there was also no improvement, Sun said.
The government should do a full review of the Coastal Management Act (海岸管理法) across all of its agencies, Sun said.
Different government agencies are doing different things: Some are restoring coastlines, while others, along with private entities, are causing damage, Chou said.
Authorities should establish professional auditing and accreditation standards for coastal structures, Chou added.
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