Taiwan accuses Chinese fishermen of wrecking coral reefs

AFP 27 Jul 08;

TUNGSHA, Taiwan (AFP) — Chinese fishermen have been accused of poaching in Taiwan's first marine national park where authorities here say their destructive methods are endangering the area's ecology.

The scourge of boats scouring the seabed for food destined for Hong Kong restaurants is combining with global warming as a major cause of coral reef bleaching, they say.

"Chinese fishing boats have been posing the gravest threat to the fragile ecological system here," Shaw I-pung of the Marine National Park headquarters said, speaking of the tiny coral atoll called Tungshan Island.

"They have been using illegal methods like poisons, dynamite and electricity to exploit marine resources in the region," he added.

Tungsha Islands, comprising Tungsha Island and two coral reefs which are submerged at high tides, straddles a strategically important sea route at the north of the South China Sea linking the Pacific and Indian oceans.

The island is a coral atoll with a land area of 2.4 square km. It measures 0.9 km from east to west, and 2.7 km from north to south.

Shaw said the unquenched appetite for Hong Kong's famed Cantonese sea food is to blame for the menace.

"Most of the marine catches here, like fishes and lobsters, were quickly sent to Hong Kong, which touts itself as the world's biggest living fish market," he said.

Chinese fishermen, plus some Vietnamese, use cyanide to stun fish and catch them live for higher commercial prices, he said.

"Cabrilla can be sold for 30 US dollars per kilo in Hong Kong and some other fish even sell for up to 100 US dollars per kilo," Shaw said.

Tungsha is 167 miles (267 km) away from Hong Kong and 236 miles from Taiwan's southern Kaohsiung city.

"Smaller fish and corals were destroyed by the poisons, largely cyanide which is easily available in China," Shaw said.

However, "the destructive way of fishing has been endangering the coral reefs near Tungsha," which Shaw described as an "ocean rain forest" and a biodiversity hot spot.

Academics found there are 264 species of corals, 556 species of fish and 140 species of birds -- many of them migratory birds -- in that area.

Taiwanese coastguards say they have stopped 3,820 ships invading the prohibited Tungsha waters since they were deployed in 2000.

Taiwan withdrew marines from Tungsha in 2000 in what the then government said was a move to help alleviate tensions in the South China Sea.

China does not specifically claim over Tungsha as Beijing already regards Taiwan as part of its territory.

Currently around 200 coastguards are stationed on Tungsha and armed with a fleet of six patrol boats -- three 10-tonne vessels and three other eight-tone boats. There are no civilian inhabitants.

But the fleet is apparently not strong enough to serve as a "deterrent" to the Chinese and Vietnamese invaders.

"They often come back after we leave," a coastguard officer said on condition of anonymity.

Taiwan's government is building the first permanent piere on the island to house the three incoming 20-tonne boats.

"Bigger ships would help us battling invaders as they increase our crusing capability," said Liu Kuo-lieh, the Tungsha coastguard commander.

As part of its ocean conservation efforts, Taiwanese government inaugurated the Tungsha Marine National Park in January 2007 with its work centred on the monitoring and conservation of the local ecology.