TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In an effort to restore the marine environment and protect dwindling fishery resources, the Project Blue 1095 initiative was launched on Thursday (April 20).
The initiative is expected to take 1,095 days and calls for Taiwan companies and NGOs to join forces and clean up the country's sea waste and beaches. The idea being to recycle and turn marine waste into eco-friendly products.
Thus far, 27 companies are participating in the project, which was announced by Business Today and is taking place for the third year.
So far, there have been 12 beach cleanup events that collected over 7,666 kilograms of marine waste. The largest component of the waste has been PET bottles, with more than 60,000 removed and repurposed into 10,000 pairs of the sustainable blue and white slippers called "Taiwan No. 1."
Taiwan No. 1 sustainable sandals are made from five recycled PET bottles and three oyster shells.
There was also a collaboration with the iDiving team to remove underwater debris and conduct surveys across 47 marine reserves across Taiwan as a part of the "Diving Underwater Project." These efforts have highlighted the low number of complete fishing bans in marine protected areas, lack of supervision, as well as fragmented laws and regulations that fail to protect the sea.
Marine Council Director Guan Bi-ling (管碧玲) was quoted by Project Blue 1095 in a press release on the complexities surrounding marine reserve management in Taiwan: "Under the Fisheries Act and the Wildlife Conservation Act, most local governments act as the local authorities for marine reserves. They delegate marine conservation tasks to their agriculture, fishery, and animal protection units, which has led to an unfortunate shortfall in both the manpower and funding needed for effective conservation work."
Fish store owners and fishermen are acutely aware of the decrease in Taiwan's fish catch, with many fearing there will be very few offshore fishery resources left in 20-30 years. This is due to the unsustainable practice of catching small fish, which prevents the population from reproducing fast enough.
Taiwan's marine reserves have faced significant challenges in recent years, with the depletion of marine resources becoming a pressing concern.
Shao Kwang-tsao (邵廣昭), former CEO of the Center for Biodiversity Research at Academica Sinica, highlights the severity of the issue: "Taiwan's marine reserves have not been taken seriously — the percentage of complete fishing bans is extremely low. The dysfunctional marine reserves have resulted in most of the commercially available fish being less than the length of mature fish."
He said more than 70% of fish species in the northern waters of Taiwan have disappeared over the past 15 years, according to long-term monitoring by Academia Sinica. Shao said that if no action is taken, scientists predict there will be no more wild fish in the sea by 2048.
To address these concerns, the United Nations adopted the High Seas Treaty in March, aiming to designate 30% of the world's oceans as marine protected areas by 2030. Taiwan is expected to launch its "Marine Protected Area Evaluation System" next year, with a focus on enhancing biodiversity and strengthening marine protection through legislation and assessment.
Marine Council Director Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said there will be a management evaluation of marine protected areas next year. This system will use rich biodiversity as the primary evaluation standard, enabling a more accurate assessment of the effectiveness of marine protected areas in preserving diverse ecosystems.
Discover the latest updates on Project Blue 1095 by exploring the website through this link (Chinese version only).
