eat a mola, if u have the moola

[kthan]

By Lawrence Chung

TAIPEI - When tourism flourishes, ecology suffers.

The Taiwanese are discovering the truth in the saying as the growing practice of holding 'seafood festivals' to stimulate the local tourism industry is threatening to wipe out many species of fish.

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Faced with a sharp drop in foreign tourist arrivals, the government is stepping up its campaign to boost domestic tourism; many counties are cashing in on their natural resources - including their local marine catch - in a bid to lure local visitors.

Sun fish, known as manbo in Taiwan, is but the latest victim of this trend.

When Hualien launched the month-long 'manbo season' in mid-April, more than 120,000 enthusiastic Taiwanese flocked to the county to try the '101 ways of eating' sun fish.

They consumed more than 100 tonnes of the fish, and the Hualien authorities pocketed over NT$400 million (S$20.8 million).

'The festival brought at least NT$350 million in earnings a year for the county and it also helped boost the fishermen's income by NT$60 million,' said Mr Wang Ming-chang, secretary-general of the Hualien County Fishery Union.

The idea of the 'manbo season', first launched in 2002, was inspired by Pingtung county's successful 'Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival', an annual event introduced four years ago.

This year, the Pingtung event is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors eager to have a taste of the pricey catch.

The ongoing two-month festival has already drawn more than 100,000 local visitors, thanks to strong government support, including an endorsement by President Chen Shui-bian.

The creative campaign, the brainchild of former county magistrate Su Jia-chyuan, has helped the once impoverished county to rake in enough revenue to vastly improve its infrastructure.

The first bluefin tuna caught and sold in April this year fetched close to NT$2.2 million - the price of an expensive imported sedan in Taiwan. A kilogramme of tuna can fetch up to NT$1,500.

But the festival has threatened to wipe out the global bluefin tuna population. Taiwan is the world's second largest catcher of bluefin tuna after Japan.

At its peak in 2001, Pingtung's Tungkang fishing port could net 13,000 bluefin tuna. But last year, the number of tuna caught declined by half, and the catch has shrunk further to 5,600 this year.

Analysts said the growing practice of promoting 'seafood' rather than 'marine' culture would endanger Taiwan's marine ecology.

'Under the central government policy of doubling the number of tourists, many counties have made use of their natural resources to promote tourism,' said marine expert Lee Cheng-ti.

'But there must be a balance in exploiting those resources and promoting tourism to avert an ecological disaster in Taiwan

[kng]

[siaoon]

A BUNCH OF HEARTLESS BAS*****....

[kng]

Just to share again...



A 'still' taken from a video clip shot in Nusa Penida, Bali. No strobes/video lights.

[waisj]

i reckoon you should post this as one of your sample images in the photography competition.

None the less a very majestic creature

[DTan]

he can't lah. will be disqualified.

btw, where's the head?
and are there two in the picture? i cant' tell and i don't konw cuz never see one before, let alone eat them. sniff.

[kng]

Originally Posted by DTan he can't lah. will be disqualified. btw, where's the head? and are there two in the picture? i cant' tell and i don't konw cuz never see one before, let alone eat them. sniff.

Yes. there are 2 of them. The head is on the left, and there is no distinct tail, hence the confusing shape.

Could some of the experts here suggest how to light the huge fish (ie number of strobe(s) needed, placement etc) given its large size, deep depths (ie v dark) and very poor vis (lots of plankton)? I guess this wld also be useful when taking other large pelagics like mantas.

thanks.

[waisj]

Originally Posted by DTan he can't lah. will be disqualified. btw, where's the head? and are there two in the picture? i cant' tell and i don't konw cuz never see one before, let alone eat them. sniff.

Head is on the left and yes there are 2. Actually for their size, their head and mouth are relatively small... and cute.....

[siaoon]

heres some info abt these cutie...
sunfish

and some nice pictures of these cuties..
http://www.oceanlight.com/html/mola_mola.html

actually.. juz found out that theres a MOON fish oso..
but i cant find any info abt it...

[kng]

Originally Posted by siaoon heres some info abt these cutie... sunfish and some nice pictures of these cuties.. http://www.oceanlight.com/html/mola_mola.html actually.. juz found out that theres a MOON fish oso.. but i cant find any info abt it...

Thanks siaoon for the info and the pix links.... the ones in the link are the sunfish in the pacific - notice that they are completely white. The waters there are also very cold, so the sunfish actually rise up to the SURFACE and SUNTAN!! Yup -they flip sideways while sun-tanning, no kidding. Unfortunately, no chance of a surface sighting in Bali... all generally found below 100ft - dark and poor vis - BAD for photos....

Am still waiting for the experts to advise on strobe lighting....

[waisj]

Heh.... i'll take a drab at lighting the Huge bugger, though i am NO expert.

First off, for pelagics that size, wide lenses would definitely make it into the requirements, i'd say maybe a 15 mm FE? or a 16mm Rectilinear Lense. Dual strobe with huge coverage angles like the DS125, YS300's or even the Ike SS200's will definitely be needed as well.

Besides all of the things mentioned above, long arms extended out from the camera system would be a must, especially since vis is bad. Building on that, the strobes should be in the same plane as the lens, spread far across each axis.

Also i suppose only one of the buggers could be lit, since the other one is pretty far away. Also judging from the size, i guess i good distance of maybe 1.5 + meters would fit the bugger into the frame.


Hope i made sense.. any other inputs?

[kng]

Originally Posted by waisj Heh.... i'll take a drab at lighting the Huge bugger, though i am NO expert. First off, for pelagics that size, wide lenses would definitely make it into the requirements, i'd say maybe a 15 mm FE? or a 16mm Rectilinear Lense. Dual strobe with huge coverage angles like the DS125, YS300's or even the Ike SS200's will definitely be needed as well. Besides all of the things mentioned above, long arms extended out from the camera system would be a must, especially since vis is bad. Building on that, the strobes should be in the same plane as the lens, spread far across each axis. Also i suppose only one of the buggers could be lit, since the other one is pretty far away. Also judging from the size, i guess i good distance of maybe 1.5 + meters would fit the bugger into the frame. Hope i made sense.. any other inputs?

Eh... your "solution" sounds very expensive....

When you mention "long arms", roughly how long do you think is needed? (Sounds like the arm system will cost 2 arms and 2 legs (human)..)

[lovells19]

destructive power of the ignorance mind...

[Bali Freak]

Originally Posted by kng no chance of a surface sighting in Bali... all generally found below 100ft - :

Usually yes, around 100ft. But also common for boatmen waiting on the surface to have seen them while the poor divers below didn't have any sighting at all. Sometimes can even see them jumping at the surface!

It is said (though I never seen it myself) that local kids dare each other to run across the sunfish as they sunbathe on the surface ... dunno if it's true or not, but if it is these kids are braver than me

Why Taiwan eating Mola?! So shortsighted ... if they do like in Bali instead then they get much more income from Sunfish alive than dead ...

[kng]

First, WELCOME to the underwater photography usergroup in Clubsnap!

I guess if you go out to the dive site day in day out practically 365 days a year, it wld be possible to get luck and spot a mola at the surface. The boatmen accompanying us weren't the least surprised at the sparse sightings that we had and it appears that our sightings were typical/slightly better than average for the "mola season".

Now... how to get a good shot of a mola...

[Gildow]

Hmm...how to get a good shots? I think first thing is to go Bali

Anyway, I'm planning to be diving there in August. I'm wondering if anyone is interested to join....trying to find some nice packages as well


Eh, Bali freak, any offers....hee hee