Environmental groups on Tuesday called for sustainable marine management strategies to facilitate the development of fisheries while conserving marine resources.
The Fisheries Research Institute and environmental groups held the Taiwan-Japan Satoumi Forum, inviting Japanese academics to share Japan’s “satoumi” experience, which refers to the Japanese concept of humans coexisting harmoniously with the ocean.
Developed based on the concept of “satoyama” — the management of forests through agricultural communities — satoumi focuses on marine management strategies that align with the sustainable development of marine resources and biodiversity in coastal areas, institute researcher Chen Chun-lung (陳均龍) said.
Photo: Huang Yi-ching, Taipei Times
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association research fellow Kuo Chia-wen (郭佳雯) said that marine resource depletion is worsening, especially on Taiwan’s west coast, which is intensively developed.
The shrinking white dolphin population in the region is an indicator, Kuo said.
Matsu’s Fish Conservation Union founder Chen Bing-heng (陳秉亨) said that Taiwan should integrate resources to rehabilitate marine resources in line with the concept of satoumi, as the construction of offshore wind farms in the past few years has affected the marine ecosystem.
Fukuoka City Fisheries Cooperative vice president Takayuki Handa said that wind turbines used for offshore wind power generation should not be built in areas where fishers have set up fixed nets or mobile fishing gear.
Although solar panels are installed on farmland in Japan to generate the electricity required to cultivate crops, Tokyo refrained from promoting fishery and electricity symbiosis in fisheries, given that most aquafarms in Japan are situated at sea rather than on land, he said.
Handa said that he would bring his experience at the forum back to Japan to share with other members of the cooperative, adding that he hopes to initiate the collaboration between Taiwan and Japan in building a satoumi economy.
Also on Tuesday, environmental groups protested the inclusion of critical habitats of white dolphins in the Taichung Port Specific Zone Plan, calling on the Taichung City Government to demarcate the habitats as a marine resource zone instead.
Kuo said that about 90 percent of Taiwanese white dolphins move through the waters around the Port of Taichung, but data showed that their population has decreased to fewer than 50, meaning that extinction might be imminent.
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association researcher Hong Shuo-cheng (洪碩辰) said that the fifth liquefied natural gas receiving terminal to be constructed by Taiwan Power Co and the second receiving terminal to be expanded by CPC Corp, Taiwan are within critical habitats of white dolphins.
The habitats should be excluded from the port’s specific zone and redefined as a Category 1 marine resource zone in accordance with the Spatial Planning Act (國土計畫法), he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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