During the 2002 “IUCN/WCPA-EA4”, a conference on marine protection, the representatives of different countries attending the conference urged our government to set up our first marine protected area in the waters of Dongsha atoll. The Durban Accord reached at the “5th World Park Congress” held in South Africa in October 2003 called on the world’s governments to increase their marine protected areas to about 12% of their territorial waters in the next 10 years and build up a database on global marine protected areas in 2012.
Experts and scholars were immediately commissioned by our Construction and Planning Agency to carry out a feasibility assessment. Experts, scholars, representatives of different authorities and the committee members of our National Park Planning Commission were also invited for a joint study. On 9 January 2004, the “Feasibility Assessment and Zoning Area of Dongsha Marine National Park” was submitted to the Executive Yuan. The report was referred to the Council for Economic Planning and Development on 2 February 2004 for discussion at the 1163rd committee meeting.
The Executive Yuan replied the Ministry of the Interior by Yuan Tai Nei Zi No. 0930006751 dated 25 February 2004, “Dongsha atoll is an integral reef with a unique marineic ecological environment and a great variety of creatures, making it a crucial habitat for the South China Sea and Taiwan marine resources. And since the restoration and conservation of Dongsha atoll is of high importance, we agree to the “Feasibility Assessment and Zoning Area of Dongsha National Marine Park” submitted by the Ministry of the Interior in principal.”
On the “1st Meeting of Steering Committee on Marine Affairs, Executive Yuan” held by the Executive Yuan on 31 March 2004, it was also pointed out that the Executive Yuan’s approval of the setting up of a “marine national park” in Dongsha had declared that the marineic ecological environment of outlying islands be protected. It was listed as a sub-project of the marine resources unit. The bio-diversity unit of the National Council for Sustainable Development, Executive Yuan was also put on the list of projects to implement.
A Brief Introduction on Dongsha Marine National Park, Taiwan
Dongsha Island, the atoll, and the surrounding waters are located at the northern area of South China Sea and are popularly known as the “Silk Road on the Sea,” which are 444 kilometers from the southwest of Gao Xiong city of Taiwan. The coverage of Dongsha Marine National Park includes 22.2 kilometers from Dongsha atoll and the surrounding atoll, with a total area of 3,536 square kilometers. A 1.74-square kilometer portion of Dongsha Island was formerly known as “Bright Pearl of the South China Sea”. The entire island forms a unique white sand landscape from shattered corals and seashell erosions. Within the Dongsha Island, there is a small saline lake that measures 0.64 square kilometer where the water is about 1 meter deep at low tide. The shape of the Dongsha Island can be likened to that of a crab’s pincers.
Dongsha atoll was previously known as “New Moon Island”. It composed mainly of a saline lake and coral reefs measuring 25 square kilometers in diameter and 500 square kilometers in area measurement. The atoll is rich in biological resources and coral reef landscape, and is an ideal spot for a wide variety of marine life. The ring-like reef flat is approximately 46 kilometers long and 2 kilometers wide. Its reef flat is exposed in the air during ebb tide. The lagoon in the atoll measures 16 meters deep, consisting of beach and saline lake. Outside the atoll, the water measures 25 meters in depth where the seabed is laden with sunken wreck ships ruins, tropical corals, tropical fish, echinoderm, crustaceans, algae, steep reef slope, and other abundant sea bio-organisms.
The Taiwan Executive Yuan on December 19, 2006 officially announced to establish “Dongsha Marine National Park”, and to found the “Marine National Park Administration Office”. On January 5, 2007, Ministry of the Interior displayed the scope and blueprint of “Dongsha Marine National Park” with a total area of 353,668 hectares. As for the zoning plan, the areas are divided into the following sections: (1) ecological protection area with 59,545 hectares, (2) unique landscape area with 294,072 hectares, (3) preserved historical site with 1 hectare, and (4) general controlled area with 450 hectares.
The objectives for Marine National Park Administration Office are summarized as follows: (1) Conservation: to protect marine and terrestrial resources and maintain the diversity of the marine life and its ecosystem; (2) Research: to provide an excellent environment for coral reefs and marine ecology research studies, and become a Asian Coral Reef Research Center; (3) Environmental and Ecological Education: To provide some degree of knowledge with regard to marine ecotourism, offer opportunities to educate the public the marine environment, engage in the marine culture nourishment, and enrich marine resources.
