Fishermen call for wind power to leave traditional fishing grounds, to preserve a future for the young

(Continued from the previous article) The undersea work of eighty offshore wind turbines plus cables has not only disturbed the fishery ecology along the Yunlin coast, but has also left the fishermen of Taizi Port, who make their living from the sea, worried that the sea they know so well will become unfamiliar. How can the fishermen continue to work their fishery?

"The sea is the breadwinner of those who live off it; those who go out and find things don't go their way still come back to work at sea." Fisherman Lin Longzhen calls for leaving a stretch of sea, which at least leaves the young a future and leaves them a way to survive that allows them to advance or retreat, "please let wind power leave the traditional fishing grounds."

One fishing boat, one rubber raft is a family business, an entire industry chain

"Above a wave, there won't be a second wave; to avoid capsizing, a small boat has to be like surfing, using the small boat's flexibility and speed to glide over the waves. A big boat is different; a big boat can withstand wind and waves and has to face them head-on." Xu Qinyuan, the fourth-generation captain in his family, describes riding the wind and breaking the waves as treating the fishing boat like a part of one's own body:

"After crossing one wave crest and before catching the second wave, there's a time gap in which you feel time standing still; in that one second, everything rises into the air, and then with a 'bang' it comes back down to the water." He describes riding the wind and waves as requiring a big heart, "and you also have to put the heart that jumped out back in."

Unlike other fishing harbors that are declining with fewer and fewer moored boats, the small boats and rafts of Taizi Port still go out to sea one after another, which shows that Taizi Port is still a fishing village full of vitality, overturning the past tragic impression of a massive outflow of young and middle-aged people from the townships along the southwestern coast.

A day in Taizi Village begins to wake before dawn as fishermen go out to sea to fish. The catch and fishing methods differ with each season, and the fishermen have their own set of solar terms at sea, going out according to the time. Xu Qinyuan vividly describes it: "Fishing, harvesting oysters, restaurants, wholesalers, mullet roe processing, oysters need to be manually selected, cleaned, and delivered; the online home-delivery economy is also popular. A fishing boat or rubber raft is a factory, an entire industry chain. The first-grade children in our village have been trained since childhood and are very good at shucking oysters."

When the entire education system is pushing young people to choose to go to the city, there is still a group of young people who choose to return to fishing village life with ease and steadiness.