TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Clownfish are being used as an indicator of the health of Taiwan’s oceans as part of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative spearheaded by Business Today.
Business Today’s director of R&D Wang Chih-chieh (王之杰) said on Monday (April 22) that Project Blue 2.0 (還海行動2.0) will focus on marine biodiversity. The project is the successor to Project Blue 1095 which ran for three years, and is working to build wild clownfish populations in Taiwan's oceans.
In collaboration with the Taiwan Ocean Conservation and Fisheries Sustainability Foundation (TOCFSF), Business Today is raising clownfish and sea anemones in its offices, and introducing them to the waters around the outlying Green Island. Wang said that clownfish provide a good indicator of ocean health because they need an extremely clean environment and a diverse ecosystem to survive.
After releasing the initial 100 fish, the plan is to set free 1,000 overall, Wang said. "I hope that next time we can release clownfish not only around Green Island but also in suitable coastal waters around Taiwan,” he said.
Business Today director Hsieh Chun-man (謝春滿) likened the situation in Taiwan’s coastal waters to that of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. She said like the Australian corals, reefs around Taitung, Orchid Island, and Kenting face coral bleaching, and releasing the clownfish will help mitigate this.
Clownfish are released into the wild near Green Island. (Facebook, Project Blue 2.0 video)
In addition to clownfish, Project Blue also has a focus on ocean cleanup, making fisheries more sustainable, and other issues. Hsieh said Business Today hopes to join other Taiwan companies and NGOs in similar initiatives.
Business Today reporter Lin Liang-sheng (林良昇) said that the poor condition of Taiwan’s ocean ecology is not well understood, as imported fish lead consumers to believe local fish stocks are healthy. However, he said that Taiwan’s wild fish stocks are declining sharply.
A 2016 study found that coastal fish species in northern Taiwan had dropped by 75% over three decades. Meanwhile, a 2020 study on 16 Taiwan commercial fish stocks found 10 stocks had collapsed, five were overfished to different levels, and only one remained in a healthy status.
Liang said the solution to these problems is to make good consumption choices rather than avoiding fish entirely. He referenced a labeling project launched by the government’s Fisheries Agency in 2020, and a seafood consumption guide by Academia Sinica as sources for consumers looking to make sustainable choices.
New Taipei’s Deputy Mayor Liu Ho-jan (劉和然) also spoke at the event and said he is passionate about marine conservation. He said that his city government has established a scheme to encourage fishing boats to collect marine waste, and has built recycling stations for this purpose.
