More legal protection is required to protect Taiwan’s marine ecology and maritime resources, the New Power Party (NPP) said yesterday, urging the government to put more effort into legislation addressing aquatic environments.
The Executive Yuan should quickly finalize its draft “marine conservation” and “sea zone management” acts and deliver them to the Legislative Yuan for review, the NPP said.
When the Ocean Basic Act (海洋基本法) was approved in 2019, the Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) said that it would issue a national marine policy white paper within a year and draft the acts, as well as “maritime industries development” legislation within two years, NPP Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said.
Photo: CNA
While the Executive Yuan has approved legislative review of the draft maritime industries development act and the draft “marine pollution prevention” act, the marine conservation and sea management acts need to be drafted and given priority, the party said.
Chen said that the party strongly urges the government to consider making Earth Day, which is today, a national holiday.
This would create awareness of environmental sustainability issues and resource use, she said.
NPP Chairwoman Claire Wang (王婉諭) said the unregulated nature of wind farms and their locations has caused conflict between local fisheries, ports and flight paths, and have endangered marine species, such as the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin.
“This highlights the necessity and importance of the sea zone management act,” Wang said.
If the government is to meet its 2050 net zero emissions goals, it must rely on a marine conservation act to draw a marine conservatory zone to conserve marine ecology, she said.
The NPP also urged OAC Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) to work hard to help conserve marine resources, and safeguard the nation’s rich and diversified ecology for future generations.
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