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December
22 2004 was a big day for the Chuwei Harbor in Dayuan Township,
Taoyuan County, because the Fisheries Agency would go there
to deploy artificial reefs. We also followed the staff members
of the Fisheries Agency there and joined this artificial reef
deployment excursion.
In this excursion, we interviewed several persons including
shipmasters, government officials of Taoyuan County, artificial
reef designers, members of the fishing association. We also
took photographs of them to illustrate the reef deployment
process. 
(see
video) |
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| Mr.
Chang Chin-fung, shipmaster that drove the ship “Chin
Wang Fa No. 68.” |
Mr.
Yan-sheng Yao from the Bureau of Agriculture of Taoyuan
County waited for his turn to board the ship. |
Mr.
Mao-cheng Wang of the Fisheries Agency waited for his
turn to board the ship. |
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| Mr.
Kao-yiu Hung in charge of reef testing from the Fisheries
Agency waited for his turn to board the ship. |
Mr.
Shueh-han Yuan in charge of steel reef deployment design
waited for his turn to board the ship. |
Mr.
Kao-yiu Hung in charge of supervising reef testing from
the Fisheries Agency waited for his turn to board the
ship. |
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| The
towboat was coming. Our ship set off from the Chuwei Harbor. |
The
shipmaster notified the towboat of our current location
by wireless communication. |
This
was the steering wheel of the shipmaster. Definitely different
from the steering wheel of cars! |
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| There was
a plaque “Good Harvest” hanging over the cab, with the
hopes of getting good harvest for every trip. |
Long red
stripes showed up on the lower right corner of the GPS
(Global Positioning System), which showed the location
of artificial reefs. |
Liable for
penalty if the mesh size of the fishing net on the ship
was found to be too small! |
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| Don’t
think this was just a small fishing boat. It’s the towboat
that would tow the steel reefs! |
The
ship that carried seven steel reef structures was coming.
Three reef structures would be deployed in Chuwei whereas
four others would be deployed in Ilan tomorrow. |
Have
a close look at the steel reefs. Wheels could still be
found among the steel and could thus allow small fish
to rest on them. |
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| There
came reddish white buoys on the sea. What were they? Just
have a wild guess! |
Because
divers first went there to deploy these buoys, thereby
informing the ship about the location of reef deployment. |
For
divers on the barge, one was driving the barge whereas
two were loosening the hooks that had carried steel reefs. |
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| Uncle
Wang communicated with the people on the ship by wireless
communication. |
On
the ship, there came the owner and several workers. |
What
a large crane! We all depended on it to tow the steel
reef structure up. |
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| The
steel reef structure had been towed off the ship and was
about to be deployed in the designated location in the
sea. |
Once
the location was fixed, the steel reef structure was slowly
deployed into the sea. |
Have
you seen the steel bars? It’s not the time to go near
them, because everything would be over if they broke. |
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| Once
the steel reef structures were all submerged into the
sea, the ship approached there and then Uncle Hung reported
the location of the ship. |
Uncle
Yuan and Uncle Wang recorded the location (in terms of
latitudes and longitudes) and then compared if the deployment
site of last year matches with the current location. |
This
was Uncle Yuan’s GPS. Really expensive! |
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| Paper
money was all over on the towboat to pray to the Sea God
for being successful in this reef deployment excursion!
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We
requested divers to take us one piece of stone from a
depth of 30 km seawater. |
Live
coral reefs were found on the stones. Divers returned
them to the sea after taking photographs. |
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| This
was the steel reef structure left behind. Tomorrow we
would go to Ilan for another deployment excursion! |
Once
back to the sea patrol station, the Coast Guard Administration
checked the name list one by one. |
Once
confirmed, our identification documents were returned
to us. The deployment excursion of today was successful!
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| This
is a photograph of the sea bottom after the steel reef
structure had been deployed in Wan An, Penghu. In the
photograph, fish were swimming leisurely in the reef structure.
|
Ray
shuttled around the reefs just like fishing saucers and
safety guards. |
These
photographs were taken by divers deep down in the sea! |
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