Marine Industry Development Act
The "Marine Industry Development Act" — one of the three long-awaited ocean laws — finally passed its third reading in the Legislative Yuan on May 26, 2023, becoming the first of the three ocean laws to complete the full legislative process.
Given the composite nature of the marine industry, relevant regulations have long been scattered across multiple laws and difficult to consolidate. It is hoped that the passage of this Act will achieve policy integration and administrative coordination, helping to foster the vigorous development of the marine industry while building a sound environment for that development under the premise of sustainable growth.
Contents of the Act
The "Marine Industry Development Act" was first drafted in 2019 and completed through the joint efforts of industry, government, academia, research institutions, and various civil society organizations.
The Act comprises 16 articles covering: the definition of the scope of the marine industry; the establishment of a marine database to integrate ocean monitoring and survey data; confirmation that the government must allocate budgets to promote the marine industry; and assistance for private entities in securing funding to participate in marine industry development projects.
The Act also explicitly requires that the competent authorities and the central government work together to strengthen public awareness of the ocean — encouraging people to be close to, knowledgeable about, and passionate about the sea. It calls for active encouragement of public participation in ocean activities, cultivation of more marine industry talent, and the provision of guidance, assistance, incentives, or subsidies for marine enterprises. Universities and colleges are also encouraged to pursue industry–government–academia collaboration.
In addition, the Act grants the central competent authority the power to assist, in accordance with the law, in establishing marine industry parks or dedicated marine industry zones, and to engage designated legal entities to handle related operations and promote marine industry development.
Balancing Traditional Rights and Economic Development
The Legislative Yuan also passed an accompanying resolution requiring that, in promoting marine industry development and establishing marine industry parks or dedicated zones, the survival, traditional rights, and economic development needs of indigenous peoples must be taken into account to avoid adverse impacts on indigenous communities.
Furthermore, on the premise of not affecting the marine ecological environment, the rights of existing sea-area users must be protected. Where indigenous traditional sea territories are involved, their traditional gathering, fishing, and ceremonial activities must be safeguarded.
The Importance of Ocean Citizen Scientists
Article 5 of the Act specifically mentions that the central competent authority should coordinate with various agencies to establish a national ocean information system and sharing platform to broadly collect and integrate ocean monitoring and survey data — including hydrological, ecological, substrate, and soundscape survey or monitoring data. These invaluable marine data come not only from the results of relevant research projects, but also from the growing contributions of ocean citizen scientists in recent years, which have led to an immense accumulation of data.
BlueTrend has also responded to this major policy direction by building an Ocean Citizen Science Biodiversity Database starting in 2021, and has continued to develop citizen science biodiversity databases for the Keelung Chaojing Resource Conservation Area and the Taoyuan coastline. To date, 3,708 citizen scientists have joined the effort, allowing everyone who loves the ocean to contribute through photos, gradually completing the baseline ecological data for the waters surrounding Taiwan.
The passage of the Marine Industry Development Act is a turning point for marine conservation and sustainable development. We look forward to the "Marine Conservation Act" and the "Marine Zone Management Act" completing their legislative processes in due course, rounding out the three ocean laws and supporting Taiwan's long-term ocean sustainability.
Further Reading:
- Chub mackerel and Japanese horse mackerel are shrinking, and silver pomfret are only 6 cm! Worried about ecological imbalance, environmental groups push to accelerate passage of the Marine Conservation Act
- The Wildest, Most Fearless Ocean Conservation Warrior in History — Paul Watson: Going Head-to-Head with Hunting Fleets and Putting His Body on the Line
- 【Are Marine Protected Areas the Best Answer for Ocean Sustainability?】BlueTrend's Oceanpedia Takes You on a Fresh Look at MPAs, Part 1
- 【No Matter How Many MPAs Are Designated, Without Enforcement They're Useless!】BlueTrend's Oceanpedia Takes You on a Fresh Look at MPAs, Part 2
