Tue, Apr 01, 2025 page3

• Pratas tourism possible, but must be limited: researcher

  • By Yang Yuan-ting and Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  The government should adopt a “leave no trace” principle for the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) if it develops tourism in the protected area, an academic said on Saturday.

  The Dongsha Atoll National Park, at the southernmost tip of Taiwan’s territory, is the nation’s first marine national park, consisting of the Pratas Islands. It is nicknamed the “Pearl of the South China Sea.”

  The government has in the past few years been rebuilding a port in the atoll at a depth of 4m, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

  

  A diver examines corals in Dongsha Atoll National Park in an undated photograph.

  Photo courtesy of Jeng Ming-shiou

  Amid growing enthusiasm for diving, the atoll has the potential to become a big tourist attraction for divers, Academia Sinica Biodiversity Research Center chief executive officer Jeng Ming-shiou (鄭明修) said.

  To protect the marine environment and ecological systems, trips to the island must be operated on a “leave no trace” principle, following the example of tourism in Antarctica, in which tourists’ food and accommodation would be restricted to the vessel and their garbage would be shipped away, he said.

  The national park features the largest seagrass bed among Taiwanese territorial waters, with nine seagrass species, and the Pratas Islands also boast valuable corals that once had a coverage of 60 to 90 percent of the atoll’s lagoon and outer waters, attracting more than 10,000 green sea turtles, Jeng said.

  However, much of the coral that inhabited the 300km2 lagoon was bleached and died due to rising water temperatures from an El Nino event in 1998, while the corals surrounding the atoll have been threatened by crown-of-thorns starfish and illegal fishing by Chinese vessels, Jeng said.

  Conservation efforts and the Coast Guard Administration’s efforts to clamp down on illegal fishing in the past few years have helped revive the marine environment around the atoll, he said.

  While leading a research team to remove crown-of-thorns starfish last year, Jeng found the recovery is striking, adding that pods of dolphins have returned to the atoll, he said.

  Divers saw 50 to 60 dolphins and other protected marine species, such as green humphead parrotfish and humphead wrasse, at least 70 of them each, he said.

  The return of marine life to the area not only attests to Taiwan’s conservation efforts, but also demonstrates the atoll’s appeal to diving enthusiasts, he added.

  When the national park was established in 2007, then-Kaohsiung mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) permitted visits by tourists using a boat that could carry up to 200 passengers, Jeng said.

  However, it did not take off, due to the lengthy sailing time and limited land and resources for sightseeing or entertainment, he said.

  Diving was not as popular in Taiwan at the time, he said, adding that the trip from Kaohsiung to the island by boat requires about 20 hours, but circling the island by bike takes only 30 minutes.

  The situation worsened as the port of the island silted up and could no longer berth vessels, he said.

  Coast guard and national park personnel are stationed on the island, along with staff and researchers of the atoll’s international research station, who commute by airplane, Jeng said.
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