New Taipei coral rehabilitation project earns grant

2015/06/09

A 10-year coral rehabilitation project proposed by a team based in New Taipei City’s eastern Gongliao District was recently awarded a sizeable share of a privately funded grant competition.

Initiated by Keelung City-based housewife-cum-environmentalist Chen Ying-ling, the project is scheduled to commence in July. It is among the 13 winners of this year’s NT$10 million (US$321,960) Keep Walking Fund.

“The money will be spent on fostering coral cultivation at an existing Taiwan abalone farm,” Chen said, adding that she came up with the idea while snorkeling off the coast of northeastern Taiwan.

“There are numerous abalone farms converted from coastal landforms,” Chen said. “Much to my surprise, some of them have been abandoned and returned to their natural state, becoming viable habitats for coral and diverse tropical fish species.”

According to Chen, she will now turn these half-natural, half-manmade farms into coral nurseries. “Originally the coastal region was full of such nourishing environments, capable of providing shelter to marine organisms in their early developing stage.

“But with excessive human construction, as well as global warming impacting the coastline, the natural breeding ground has been all but destroyed.”

Chen’s team has leased an idle farm for 10 years in Longdong, a local scenic spot famed for open-water diving. And Keelung-based National Museum of Marine Science and Technology, where the passionate greenie has volunteered for years, is participating in the project by providing coral seeds.

“Starting next month, we will plant the seeds and hopefully take the first step in rebuilding the nation’s reef colonies,” she said. “We expect to see substantial results in three years and then share our dream of nursing the oceans back to health.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=231259&ctNode=413)