Taiwan may be an island, surrounded by sea, but a recent survey has shown that people in the nation fared poorly in their knowledge of the oceanic environment.
The survey, carried out by Taiwan Environmental Info Association (TEIA), asked 600 fifth and sixth-graders and some adults about their understanding of Taiwan’s maritime landscape. Results showed that less than 50 percent of respondents knew that the country’s coastline is 1,600km long and only 43 percent could accurately name Fugueijiao (富貴角) as the northernmost end of Taiwan.
Meanwhile, only 48 percent knew that the nation’s largest lagoon is located in Cigu District (七股) in Greater Tainan.
While the heavily polluted algal reef in Taoyuan County’s Guanyin Township (觀音) has garnered much media attention recently, 75 percent of the respondents did not know it was the nation’s largest algal reef, and about 40 percent thought it was in Taitung County.
The survey also found that 70 percent of respondents did not know that Dongsha Atoll National Park is the nation’s only marine national park. While 95 percent of the respondents said they like the sea, 50 percent of them reported that they do not go to the beach regularly.
With yesterday marking World Oceans Day, TEIA secretary-general, Chen Juei-ping (陳瑞賓), said the survey findings showed that there was an urgency to reinforce education about Taiwan’s marine environment.
“Most people’s understanding of the sea is still limited to eating seafood and playing water sports,” he said. “If people fail to possess even a basic knowledge of the ocean, the nation will lose the opportunity to react in time to the challenges brought about by climate change.”
As part of its efforts to educate the public about the sea environment, TEIA and Standard Chartered Bank have started a project to draw a map of the country’s coastline biodiversity, which is scheduled to be finished in January next year.
TEIA Environmental Trust Center director Sun Hsiu-ju (孫秀如) said all the information they gather will be put online and will be available to the public free of charge.
Taiwan’s first coastline map was drawn up by Dutch explorers in 1636 in which they delineated the shoal and the inter-tidal zone along the nation’s west coast near Dacheng (大城), Changhua County.
“From the [Dutch] maps, we can see that Taiwan is getting ‘skinnier’ because of coastline erosion and subsidence,” Sun said.
In related developments, the Fisheries Agency announced yesterday that the nation now has three levels of sea protection zones. For Type I zones, access is granted only to scientists and government officials charged with monitoring and restoring the environment and they are not allowed to damage the area’s eco-systems in any way.
Those entering Type II zones are banned from engaging in developing any of the natural or cultural resources and in Type III zones only limited development is permitted, which must be conducted under the principle of sustainable development, it said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and