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Wushi Port, Nanfang'ao and Wuqi Port win the first Fishing Port Environmental Evaluation Award

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Breaking the messy image of fishing ports, Wushi Port, Nanfang'ao and Wuqi Port improve their environment and win the first Fishing Port Environmental Evaluation Award

Fishing ports in the past mostly had a messy image. To encourage fishing ports to improve their operating environment, the Fisheries Agency held the first nationwide fishing port environmental evaluation, and Yilan's Wushi Port, Nanfang'ao and Taichung's Wuqi Fishing Port took the awards. Chang Chih-sheng, acting director-general of the Fisheries Agency, said that fishing ports used to be purely working spaces for fishermen, but as times have evolved, fishing ports have also added public leisure functions. Through the awards, fishing ports are encouraged to change, and the public is more willing to go to fishing ports for leisure or to buy fresh catches and get close to the ocean.

Chen Hsiu-nuan, director-general of the Toucheng Fishermen's Association, said that outside the Wushi Port area is Guishan Island, and inside is the Lanyang Museum, offering abundant tourism resources. Provided by the Fisheries Agency

There are nine first-category fishing ports nationwide, and three fishing ports won awards

There are 221 fishing ports nationwide, among which nine, including Wushi, Nanfang'ao, Zhengbin, Badouzi, Hsinchu, Wuqi, Anping, Qianzhen and Donggang Yanpu, are first-category fishing ports, while the remaining 212 are second-category fishing ports under the jurisdiction of local governments. Chang Chih-sheng said that the first evaluation was conducted for first-category fishing ports under central jurisdiction, and in the future it is hoped that each local government will recommend one fishing port to participate in the evaluation, actively encouraging fishing ports to improve environmental quality.

Wang Ching-yao, head of the Planning Division of the Fisheries Agency, said that modern fishing ports are moving toward multi-functionality. In addition to fisheries, they also play roles in outlying island transport connections, fishing and blue highway tourism, and recreational whale-watching activities. The competing fishing ports are distributed across seven counties and cities and eight fishermen's associations, and the environments in which they operate play different functions. Therefore, experts from the three fields of tourism, fisheries and environmental restoration were specially hired to form a committee, which visited each fishing port for inspection and evaluation and selected Wushi Port, Nanfang'ao and Wuqi Fishing Port as this year's winning fishing ports.

Wushi Fishing Port has a clean environment, and Nanfang'ao Fishing Port has set up a temporary storage area for discarded fishing nets

Chen Hsiu-nuan, director-general of the Toucheng Township Fishermen's Association, said that Wushi Fishing Port is a first-category fishing port directly under the Council of Agriculture. Originally the county government managed the port area on its behalf. After coordination, the Toucheng Township Fishermen's Association now adopts the green areas and public spaces in the port area. The fishermen's association commissions a cleaning company to undertake the maintenance and cleaning work in the port area, and the fishermen's association is directly responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the port environment.

Chairman Tsai Yuan-lung said that the Su'ao District Fishermen's Association has promoted the establishment of a temporary storage area for discarded fishing nets in the Nanfang'ao port area. In the past, fishermen could not deal with discarded fishing nets and often disposed of them arbitrarily. Now the fishermen's association finds manufacturers to sort the discarded fishing nets, with part recycled and reused or incinerated.

The fishermen's association also coordinated with the cleaning team to set up nine collection points in the port area, and at fixed times garbage trucks enter the port so that boat workers can discard garbage at fixed times and locations. In the past, fishing workers on boats would casually discard garbage in the port area. Now the fishermen's association has set up surveillance cameras throughout the port area. If fishing workers casually discard garbage, after a period of persuasion, they will be reported and fined in accordance with the Waste Disposal Act. Since the surveillance cameras were installed, the phenomenon of casually discarding garbage in the fishing port has been greatly reduced.

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