The Editor says: The BlueTrend team is honoured to have won first place in the 2019 Chaojing Bay Festival Underwater Ecology Documentary Competition. Our original goal was simply to bring more of this small bay's stories to the public, so we invested in expensive camera equipment in the hope of deepening people's connection with the ocean. We are deeply grateful to journalist Zhuang Xiao-ping of Agri Harvest, whose writing gave fuller voice to the feelings behind our work. This article is reproduced in full with permission from Agri Harvest (original article).
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Three years have passed since the establishment of the Wanghaixiang (Chaojing) Bay Marine Resource Conservation Area. The Keelung City Government recently held the "Tidal Ecology – Underwater Footage Documentary Competition and ImageBay Underwater Photography Contest" to showcase the vitality of life beneath the surface of the Chaojing conservation area. The first-place documentary prize was claimed by a scuba diving enthusiast from the area. Told from the perspective of a young local resident who became a diver, the film not only reveals the stunning ecology of Chaojing Bay but also calls on the relevant authorities to take conservation seriously — not just halfway. Traffic management and regulations governing diving activities still need to be put in place, the filmmakers argue, so that local residents can meaningfully participate in the transformation of the tourism industry and the conservation area can be managed sustainably.
2019 Tidal Ecology [Wide-Angle] Honourable Mention — Chiu Mao-Jui — Chaojing Superstar @ Sea Apple
Industry Transformation Lags Behind — Conservation Area Sparks Conflict Between Divers and Residents
Among diving enthusiasts, Chaojing Bay has emerged as an exciting new dive site. Designated a marine resource conservation area by the Keelung City Government in 2016, it is the smallest fishery resource conservation area in Taiwan at just 15 hectares. Because fishing and the harvesting of any aquatic organisms are prohibited throughout the zone, the recovery of marine life has been tangible even to nearby fishermen. In a 2018 ecological survey — Survey of Artificial Reef Areas and Aquatic Flora and Fauna Reproduction Conservation Zones in Taiwan's Northeastern Waters, led by adjunct researcher Shao Kwang-Tsao of the Biodiversity Research Center at Academia Sinica — the Chaojing conservation area ranked highest among seven fishery resource conservation areas in the northeast for algal biodiversity and was the richest in species count and individual abundance. As the ecosystem rebounds, new challenges for the area's sustainable management have followed.
Zhao Jian-Shun, the award-winning documentary director, has run a dive equipment shop in Chaojing with a dive instructor friend since late 2015. Looking back, he recalls that since the conservation area was established, some fishermen at review meetings have blamed the fledgling diving industry for the losses caused by the fishing ban — arguing that "only outsiders profit from the conservation area." In response, since 2017 he and his colleagues have been partnering with some of those fishermen, bringing them into scuba tank and dive equipment rental services, hoping to broaden the economic benefits of diving activities. Last year they also recruited four young locals who grew up in the area, offering them jobs at the dive shop and dive training, with the aim of giving young people a reason to stay and work in their hometown through a new industry.
Local youth "Da-Tou" (Jian Chen-Yu) began teaching and working as a dive guide at Chaojing in 2019.
Designating a Conservation Area Is Just the Beginning — Sustainable Management Needs Broad, Ongoing Discussion
"Recently some friends have seen me doing well here and want to come back and join me," says Jian Chen-Yu. He is the only one of last year's four dive shop workers who has continued in the diving industry, and within just a single year — with support from the dive shop — he obtained his dive certification and this year became a fully qualified dive instructor in the water. As someone who grew up in Chaojing, he welcomes the new business opportunities that diving activities have brought to the community — such as vendors selling shihhua (seaweed jelly), something never seen there before — but he also suffers the traffic problems that come with holiday crowds. The small community struggles to absorb vehicles from the nearby National Museum of Marine Science and Technology, Chaojing Park, and divers alike. Since diving activity surged, he has also grown concerned that less skilled divers could damage the area's coral, yet none of these issues have been formally acknowledged or discussed.
Zhao Jian-Shun believes that designating a conservation area is only the first step in environmental protection; guiding the local industry through a meaningful transition is equally important. Because the authorities have limited understanding of diving tourism, they are poorly positioned to help residents develop new economic activities — beyond simply running food stalls, for example, residents with fishing boats could offer boat dive services. In addition, the conservation area currently has no entrance fee and no cap on visitor numbers. Some instructors take large groups into the water at once, which is not only dangerous but may also cause environmental damage — both of which are detrimental to the area's long-term sustainability. "We strongly support a 'diving tax,'" Zhao says. "The funds collected could serve as a conservation fund for maintaining the environment." He stresses that managing a conservation area cannot be done halfway: the relevant regulations must be worked out through discussion among the authorities, divers, and local residents, so that everyone can benefit from the conservation area while protecting the hard-won marine ecosystem.
Jian Chen-Yu notes that the regular presence of divers underwater also helps deter illegal fishing. He also mentions in the film that whenever he spots a broken piece of coral on the seabed, he proactively tries to reattach it — doing his part to protect the precious underwater ecosystem.
This article is reproduced in full with permission from Agri Harvest. Reporter: Zhuang Xiao-ping. (Original article).
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