China to blame for fishery disaster: scholar

In addition to inspecting the two hardest-hit regions — Chingwan Bay and Houliao Beach — the group held a seminar with Penghu county officials, including Magistrate Wang Chien-fa.

Cheng Ming-yuan, director of the county’s Fishery Bureau, first gave a briefing on the county’s fishery losses.

According to Cheng, 44 tons of dead fish had been cleared from beaches around the county in the past 10 days. “There are also numerous dead fish on the sea bed,” he added.

All the academics present at the colloquium agreed that the county government need not bother to clean up the dead fish on the sea bed, saying Mother Nature will dispose of them.

A marine ecologist noted that dead fish become part of the food chain, which will in turn contribute to conservation of fishery resources.

The scholars and experts were also reserved about the county government’s plan to release eels into designated coastal waters to spur rejuvenation of fish stocks, saying such moves may sabotage the delicate natural balance among fish species.

They offered many recommendations on how to forge an efficient alarm and monitoring system to prevent recurrence of any massive fishery disaster. They also presented opinions on the formulation of short-, middle- and long-term marine policy to benefit both marine resource conservation and bolster the county’s economic development.

Penghu Magistrate Wang said after the meeting that Fisheries Administration Deputy Director Chen Tien-shou had promised to assist the county government in surveying damaged fishing grounds along its beautiful coastline and establishing a monitoring and tracking mechanism.

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