Detailed Introduction to the Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation

[Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation - Statement] 2014.10.28

In response to recent media reports, the Hualien-area news article "Too many tourists! Whale watching hits a new high, boats can't meet demand" notes that in the past two years the Port of Hualien has seen an increase in visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong, China and Macao, China, and that whale-watching boats cannot meet demand. The report further states: "To prevent ticket prices from being driven up, the Hualien District Fishermen's Association, anticipating future whale-watching demand, will take the initiative to apply to increase the number of whale-watching boats." Our foundation is deeply concerned about how this report may develop. (Too many tourists! Whale watching hits a new high, boats can't meet demand)

According to a 2000 survey by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Taiwan has become the country where whale watching has developed most rapidly in recent years. Yet compared with the strict regulations on whale-watching practices internationally (such as the whale-watching guidelines for Pacific nations drafted by the International Fund for Animal Welfare in 2008, the North American whale-watching regulations drafted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2009, and those of countries such as the United States, Argentina, Canada, Iceland and New Zealand), Taiwan has still been slow to enact direct, effective laws and regulations limiting the number, speed, manner, distance and timing with which whale-watching boats approach wild animals.

Since Taiwan's first whale-watching boat set sail in 1997, the whale-watching industry has flourished for more than a decade. Yet over all these years, not only has the government failed to invest relevant research resources or produce an overall environmental impact assessment of the whale-watching industry, it has also lacked clear laws and policies to regulate whale-watching practices. This alone is enough to draw criticism. And where do the criteria by which each county and city opens up whale-watching boat numbers come from? The central and local competent authorities have not publicly explained this either. It is truly hard to imagine how, without any research basis, the government can judge a reasonable number and the environmental impact it causes.

In summary, our foundation holds that: since Taiwan's whale-watching industry lacks a legal basis for regulation, lacks sufficient ecological resource impact assessment and total volume control strategies, and lacks a sustainable tourism plan drawn up in response to visitor numbers, the central and local governments should not rashly agree to open up boat numbers. Accordingly, our foundation puts forward the following three demands to the central and local (Hualien County) governments:

1. The central competent authority, together with the local competent authority, should jointly consider and draft buffer policies in response to the increased numbers of mainland Chinese visitors at various whale-watching ports brought about by changes in cross-strait policy in recent years, and further assess the ecological carrying capacity. After long-term research and assessment, if the number of boats has already exceeded the ecological carrying capacity, it should be frozen. Do not simply echo the market supply-and-demand mechanism, causing an imbalance between commercial interests and ecological conservation, and losing the original intent of sustainable development of environmental resources.

2. The central and local competent authorities should refer to international practice, as well as the "Whale-Watching Label Certification Operation Guidelines" drafted by the Chinese Cetacean Society, regarding items such as the speed at which whale-watching boats travel after sighting whales and dolphins, the direction of contact with the animals, the number of boats viewing at the same time, the manner of interaction between boats and animals (no deliberate acceleration to create wakes), and boat departure procedures, and should draft laws and implementation rules, and publish the relevant penalties and fine amounts. At the same time, to implement whale-watching codes of conduct, effective supervision methods should be established, reporting rewards should be clearly stipulated, and reporting methods open to public participation should be announced.

3. Strictly regulate the application qualifications of whale-watching operators, and require whale-watching boats to be equipped with vessel recorders facing front, rear, left and right, in order to implement the code of conduct for boat contact with wild animals; in addition, whale-watching boat drivers must undergo regular training and hold a valid whale-watching boat driving licence.

On the above three points, before effective regulations on whale-watching conduct and penalties are drafted, announced and implemented, our foundation does not agree to the Port of Hualien opening up further quotas for recreational fishing boats to engage in whale watching. We ask the central and local competent authorities not to be superstitious about development and neglect the sustainability of ecology, causing the regrettable loss of whale and dolphin resources off the east coast!!
This statement is hereby issued.

Announcement of the Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation