Cyanide and blast fishing meet population explosion

To help save the reefs of Taiwan, get active with these groups:

We didn't find any groups working here—if you know of any, please tell us.

Taiwan's extensive soft corals are taking a beating from tourism, pollution, export for aquariums, and construction-related dredging and sedimentation. Explosives fishing and spearfishing have seriously depleted the algae-grazing fish that keep the corals' competitors at bay.

To make matters worse, heat discharge from Taipower's nuclear plant in Nanwan Bay caused extensive local bleaching from 1987 to 1990, and dredgings have buried roughly 80 percent of corals near the plant's intake valve. In an attempt to mitigate the damage, Taiwanese scientists have transplanted about 30 colonies of coral from near the valve to an aquarium for eventual relocation. If the transplant is successful, the nuke-evicted corals will be resettled permanently in Pingtung.