• Protect Anchovy Larvae
• Interview Report
  • Seminar
  • Interview Report
• Seafood Guide
• Sustainable Seafood
• Members
  • Members
  • Reflections

 

This semester, we took part in the event Design for Change. Through this event we discovered that our marine life is currently facing the endangerment of extinction. Therefore we started to collect relative information of this topic, and we found marine conservation expert Mr. Guang-chao Tsou, who was also the founder of “Seafood Guide”! We were honored to have invited Mr. Tsou to speak in our school and accept our interview!

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• Speaker: Mr. Guang-chao Tsou, Research Fellow, Academia Sinica

• Time: January 9th, 2013 (W) 13:30-15:00

• Place: Observation Room

Contents of the Seminar

The” Final cinema trailer for The End of the Line”, described the effect of people’s large scale capturing and consuming of fish on the marine ecosystem. Reason and strategies were also discussed in the film. Apart from these, the film also mentioned that the government only care about pursuing the economic prosperity of the fishing villages, the fishermen only care about increasing short term profits, and the consumer only care about cheap tasty seafood. They don’t think about the marine ecology and that the biodiversity of the ocean is decreasing quickly.  In fact, our next generation may be in a situation in which there won’t be any fish left to catch, and any fish to eat. The only solution would be to establish protection areas, restrict fishing and change consuming habits. When purchasing, please ask for the origin of the seafood and only eat seafood that comply with the criteria of sustainable seafood. This way marine resource won’t be depleted!

 

 

 

Interview:

A. Personal expertise

1. Why did you focus your study in the field of marine research? What is your area of expertise?

Since I was accepted to the National Taiwan University College of Life Science Fishery Division, I worked hard to do the things I liked most.

 

2. What should we watch for when doing researches on marine resources? Any research suggestions? 

I suggest that you find your own filed of expertise, and then go fish watching at the Daixi Public Mark or the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium.

3. Did you encounter any challenges when doing researches in the field of marine conservation? How did you overcome the problem?
There were in fact many challenges. There would be times where we couldn’t find new species of fish to study on. Then we would have to switch to another area and work on the classifying of fish eggs.

 

4. What is your most memorable moment during your Mariology researches?  What were your greatest accomplishments?
My greatest moment is when lots of people leave messages on the internet complimenting and approving of Seafood Guide. It made me really happy.

 

B. Marine Research

5. In what ways to do you think the general public can make use” The Fish Database of Taiwan”?
A lot of people use it. Some use it for academic reasons, some use to identify a fish, and publishers use it for researches. Due to the completeness of the database, a lot of people use it to search for information. The data was the cooperative work of both Taiwan and international agencies.

 

6. Have you estimated how many of Taiwan’s public knows about the “Seafood Guide”? Was it effective?
(1)A lot of people know about it.
(2)It was very effective.

 

7. The suggested types of fish included in the “seafood guide”. Would they be extinct when people consume them continuously?
Yes, when you consume too much of one type of find. Its extinction is possible.

 

8. Apart from practicing to not consume and not capture certain fish, how do we protect the “forbidden to eat” fish?

Clean water, clean environment, don’t pollute the ecosystem, don’t litter, establish protected area.

 

9. If we don’t capture fish on the “forbidden to eat” list after many years would production of the fish increase? If yes, is the quantity enough for us to put the fish back to the “suggest eating” list? 
If we’ve already deleted the supply of the species of fish, it’s very difficult to increase its number. Even if we culture fish fries the result would be minimal.

 

10. We want to go to the public market to promote the concept of Seafood Guide. However, we were also worried that if we restrict fish supply, would it result in the fishermen’s inability to sustain their livelihood? What should they do?

The fishermen’s livelihood would be somewhat difficult, but if the government steps in to help redirect them to different professions and change policies they would still be able to sustain their livelihood.

 

11. In the rules of the “Seafood Guide”, we don’t really understand why we should be buying silvery white fishes and not colorful fishes?
Silvery white fishes are mostly in the bottom of the food chain with very few different species but abundant in quantity. They’re also very to breed, and have long lifespan. If we eat it, we won’t cause their extinction.

 

C. Sustainable Management~ Sustainable Marine Resources

12. If we put fish fries back into the ocean, would it help in the sustaining of marine resources?
The government has done it before, but there was no proof of its effectiveness. (No follow up) Therefore when you put them back into the wild it’s like you’re giving them a death sentence. It would be more effective if you put the fries in a protective area.

 

13. What role should the government play in the protection of marine life? What kind of regulation or law should be implemented?
 (1): reinforce management, government step in to give pressure
 (2): Coastal Law

 

14. To your understanding, what is the current status on Taiwan’s implementation of marine conservation law?
At the moment Taiwan does not have a marine conservation law. There are relative regulations, but were not fully implemented.

 

15. How should we capture fish to coexist peacefully with marine life?
Take just enough, not too much and not too little, keep a grateful heart

 

 

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