Carefully preserve marine riches
Nonetheless, where there is action, change is sure to follow. The Liuqiu Fishermen’s Association in Pingtung County has been willing to face up to the truth. Many fishermen have reported that in the seas around the island of Xiaoliuqiu, the numbers of various fish species once commonly seen there—including the largehead hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus), the torpedo scad (Megalaspis cordyla), the red bigeye (Priacanthus macracanthus), and the moonfish (Mene maculata)—are far lower than in the past. Accordingly, in 2013 the association banned the use of certain fishing techniques, such as drift gillnetting, within three nautical miles of the island, and began encouraging fishermen to use more sustainable techniques such as pole-and-line fishing and longline fishing. Moreover, they ensure enforcement of fishing regulations, interdicting more than ten cases of illegal fishing each year. They are also constructing artificial reefs in order to provide additional habitats for fish populations and so maintain marine resources.
Liuqiu Fishermen’s Association staffer Li Yili notes that because gillnet fishing is dangerous to sea turtles, since the gillnet ban took effect snorkelers can see many sea turtles greeting them. Also, the average weight of largehead hairtail fish has increased from 1‡2 kilograms to 2‡3 kilos, enabling them to fetch better prices.
On Greater Kinmen Island, the Kinmen County Government has designated a horseshoe crab conservation zone in the intertidal zone at Guningtou on the island’s northwest coast, to protect the tri-spine horseshoe crab (Tachypleus tridentatus). Known as “living fossils of the beaches,” horseshoe crabs have existed for at least 400 million years. The crabs mate for life, and so they are nicknamed “husband-and-wife fish” in Chinese. Fifty years ago there were still many horseshoe crabs along the west coast of Taiwan proper, but because of habitat changes, by 20 years ago they had virtually disappeared.
The Kinmen County Fisheries Research Institute has for many years helped “couples” of tri-spine horseshoe crabs, which frequently find it difficult to reproduce, to lay and fertilize their eggs; after the eggs hatch, the institute releases the larvae into the sea. The number of juvenile horseshoe crabs has been rising steadily. There have even been cases of adult crabs coming ashore to lay eggs on the beach at Xiongshi Fort, where there have been no releases of crab larvae.
The waters around Taiwan have the world’s highest numbers of species in the butterflyfish and angelfish families. (courtesy of the Fish Database of Taiwan)