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
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.
Advertisement
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