Live Coverage! Unveiling the Mysteries of Chaojing & the 2023 Image Bay Underwater Photography Competition Award Ceremony

The National Museum of Marine Science and Technology and BlueTrend co-organized the "2023 Image Bay Chaojing Underwater Photography Competition." On November 4th, the "Unveiling the Mysteries of Chaojing Marine Conservation Forum & 2023 Image Bay Award Ceremony" was held at the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology – International Conference Hall.

In her opening remarks, National Museum of Marine Science and Technology Director Chen Su-Fen expressed her hope that everyone would come to appreciate the beauty of Chaojing through the photography competition and, in turn, help protect it. BlueTrend founder Spark (趙健舜) noted that uploading photos and data through the underwater photography competition helps track ecological changes in Chaojing, supporting marine protected area conservation and research. "For example, this year's Best Rare Species Award runner-up, Lin Jin-Xian's work 'The Culprit Snipping coral,' captured a previously unrecorded deep-sea spider crab in Chaojing carrying coral on its back as camouflage — an ecological photograph of tremendous research value."

Data Confirms Ecological Changes Since the Establishment of the Chaojing Reserve — Dr. Li Cheng-Lu

Breaking with tradition, this year's award ceremony was combined with a marine conservation forum for the first time. The opening speaker was marine scientist Dr. Li Cheng-Lu, who presented "Data Confirms Ecological Changes Since the Establishment of the Chaojing Reserve." Dr. Li noted that over the period from 2022 to 2023, the strictly enforced Chaojing reserve had 4.4 to 27.7 times the biomass of the adjacent Shen-ao conservation area; compared to the past, Chaojing's biomass has also grown to 18–20 times its previous levels. Taken together, these findings confirm that with genuine enforcement of fishing bans and zone management, fish population growth can be observed in a short period of time!

First-Ever Reveal of Chaojing's Underwater 3D Map & Underwater Camera Footage — Director Chen Li-Shu

The first-ever public reveal of the "Chaojing Underwater 3D Map" and underwater camera footage was shared by Chen Li-Shu, Director of the Industry-Academia Exchange Division at the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology. Using sonar and drone technology, Director Chen unveiled a previously little-known discovery hidden within the map: 65 shipwrecks — making Chaojing home to one of the highest concentrations of shipwrecks in the world. Director Chen also used Chaojing's underwater cameras to show the audience charming footage of creatures such as cornetfish swimming belly-up and sea turtles rubbing their backs against gorgonians / sea fans, inviting everyone to join the conservation effort so these wonderful creatures can continue to thrive in Chaojing. She joked: "As long as you don't damage the cameras underwater, you're already doing your part for conservation!"

New Technology for Chaojing Management & Future Challenges for the Reserve — Section Chief Tsai Fu-Ning

"New Technology for Chaojing Management & Future Challenges for the Reserve" was presented by Tsai Fu-Ning, Section Chief of the Marine and Agricultural Fisheries Development Section of Keelung City's Industry Development Department. She recalled how she had once persuaded fishermen to support "Chaojing 1.0 Regulations" — banning nets, fishing, and harvesting within the conservation zone — which has led to a thriving Chaojing ecosystem that now draws visitors and generates significant tourism benefits.

But as one second-generation fisherman once asked her directly: "Chief, is this the Chaojing you wanted?" Chaojing has yet to see its fish population reach a spillover effect, yet human crowds have already overflowed, and the excessive visitor numbers and recreational activities have begun to undermine Chaojing's conservation gains. To ensure Chaojing's long-term sustainability, the "Chaojing 2.0 Regulations" must be advanced to implement visitor capacity controls. Section Chief Tsai asked for everyone's understanding, and at the close of her presentation said: "If you support the new Chaojing 2.0 Regulations, could I ask for a round of applause?" The audience responded immediately with enthusiastic applause.

2023 Chaojing Marine Conservation Forum: Exclusive Insights Revealed

The forum concluded with BlueTrend founder Spark serving as moderator, inviting all three speakers to join a panel discussion on Chaojing conservation issues. A topic of particular concern was the impact of rising sea temperatures on the ecosystem. Director Chen Li-Shu noted that Chaojing's water temperature sensors are tied to buoys, which limits measurements to a specific depth. Spark responded that ocean temperature is a concern shared worldwide, and that going forward, whenever a diver dives wearing an ATMOS dive computer, the entire dive's temperature record will be uploaded to the cloud — helping researchers and scientists assess whether water temperatures in Taiwan's waters are rising and how this affects the ecosystem.

During the Q&A, the question most on the audience's minds was whether night diving in Chaojing might be opened to the public and on what timeline. Section Chief Tsai explained that, considering management, safety, and regulatory factors, night diving in Chaojing is currently handled on a project basis and is restricted to research and survey purposes. However, in order to document more of Chaojing's nocturnal ecosystem, discussions are underway about opening access to citizen scientists for nighttime recording and photography based on academic research and documentation needs.

P.S. For those who couldn't attend in person, the full forum recording is right here:

2023 Image Bay Chaojing Underwater Photography Competition Award Ceremony

The grand finale — the award ceremony — kicked off with judge Kyotaro sharing that this year's entries were fiercely competitive: a total of 648 submissions were received, comprising 394 in the macro category and 254 in the wide-angle category, sparking particularly lively deliberation among the judges. He hinted that the competition format may be adjusted next year, so stay tuned — and he encouraged everyone to submit their work.

The award ceremony proceeded in an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation. First up were the Popularity Awards: in the wide-angle category, Luo Kai-Xiu's "Tree of Life" took the prize, while in the macro category, Jin Ying-Yue's "Little Fluffball" claimed the top spot.

To celebrate the biodiversity of Chaojing and support marine education, four new special awards were introduced this year: Best Unusual Animal Behavior, Rare Species Documentation, Best Schooling Behavior, and Best Environmental Camouflage — collectively known as the Special Category Awards.

Special Award — Honorable Mention

Among the winners, 簡晨宇 was abroad and unable to attend in person, so his friends held up a large photo of his face to accept the award on his behalf — unexpectedly adding a great deal of fun to the ceremony.

Dr. Li Cheng-Lu also added that the "ocellated eagle ray (Aetobatus ocellatus)" captured in 簡晨宇's "Once in a Thousand Years" is a type of Stingray that is rarely seen in northern Taiwan, and much about its ecological behavior remains unknown — he encouraged everyone to keep observing and documenting.

Special Award — Runner-Up

Notably, the runner-up for the Rare Species award, Lin Jin-Xian's "The Culprit Snipping Coral," captured a deep-sea spider crab in Chaojing — never previously documented through research — carrying coral on its back as camouflage. This revelation showed that the holes and changes seen in Chaojing's coral may not be caused solely by typhoons or divers, but potentially by other organisms as well, carrying significant implications for marine research.

Wide-Angle Category Winners

Speaking about "Coral Planet," 李衍毅 said: "There is one area in Chaojing with a massive expanse of hard coral where many freedivers descend. But the hard coral is so large that even a wide-angle lens can't fit it all in. I had long wanted to shoot it with an 8mm full-circle fisheye lens, but never got around to it — until the day I was heading back from a dive, spotted that coral, happened to have the lens with me, and took the shot."

The moderator followed up: "Was it very difficult to shoot?" 衍毅 smiled and said it was quite simple — all you need is an 8mm full-circle fisheye lens. The audience laughed and pushed back, saying it wasn't simple at all: the real difficulty lies in having the idea.

Macro Category Winners

The moderator also shared that egg-guarding is not always the mother's job — in fact, it is the father goby that guards the eggs, making it something of a role model among fish. He then asked the macro category champion, 王亭尹: "The title of your work is 'Peering' — is it the wire coral shrimp that is peering?" The first-place macro winner 王亭尹 laughed and replied: "It's not the wire coral shrimp doing the peering — it's me peering at it. Many people who dive in Chaojing know that there is a spiraling wire coral there where three wire coral shrimp live. I was doing a night dive for academic research that day, originally hoping to photograph all three. Unfortunately, two of them weren't home, leaving only this one — but its position was just right, and at night its body is dotted with beautiful starry speckles, so I captured this shot as a record."

The stunning award-winning images left everyone once again in awe of the beauty and biodiversity of Chaojing. To top it all off, a series of lucky draws sponsored by ATMOS, V.DIVE, and BlueTrend sent waves of excitement through the closing moments of the event, with many attendees delighted to go home with prizes. The event wrapped up in high spirits, with everyone looking forward to reuniting at the "2024 Image Bay Chaojing Underwater Photography Competition" — and eagerly anticipating even more surprises from Chaojing's ecosystem under the new "Chaojing 2.0 Regulations."

If you want to discover more stunning works and photography tips, or even become a citizen scientist through underwater photography to help advance marine conservation, feel free to subscribe to BlueTrend's curated articles and videos, or join our official LINE @ for the latest updates!

Supervising Unit: Ministry of Education, R.O.C. | Organizer: National Museum of Marine Science and Technology | Co-organizer: BlueTrend | Sponsors: ATMOS, V.DIVE

Editor: Jenny Tsai

Further Reading:

• Explore the Marine Beauty of Keelung: Unveiling the Ecological Survey of Chaojing Conservation Zone and Marine Citizen Scientist Results

• Chaojing Conservation Zone Ecological Survey Released! Biomass 5–27 Times Greater Than Outside the Reserve

• Marine Citizen Scientists Use Underwater Photography to Support Ocean Conservation and Basic Research

• The Image Bay Underwater Photography Competition Awards Are In! A Behind-the-Lens Look at the Stories