2017 International Symposium on Coral Reef Conservation in the South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea belonging to the Pacific Ocean. It encompasses an area of ca. 3,500,000 square kilometers (1,400,000 sq mi), ranging from the Karimata and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan. One of the most important ecosystems in the South China Sea, the tropical coral reefs, provides important resources such as fisheries and tourisms for the bordering countries, including China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brunei etc. However, the tropical coral reefs in this region deteriorate severely due to overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction as well as large-scale coral bleaching caused by rising sea water temperature resulting from climate change and decrease in calcification of marine organisms caused by ocean acidification resulting from the uptake of excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The large-scale reclamation activities by the bordering countries in recent years further collapse the ecological functions of the reef systems. To ensure regional stability in Southeast Asia, it is necessary to preserve the coral reef ecosystems and develop a more sustainable exploitation for the resources of fishery and tourism.

As early as 1990, Dr. John McManus from The International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (now WorldFish) had presented the marine peace park to advocate the idea of the conservation without borders, a concept that has been discussed continually in the past two decades, both in international conferences and academic journals. In 1996, Dr. McManus led an international research team, which enrolled marine biologists from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan, to conduct a 12 years’ project to study the dependency of coral reef fish in South China Sea. Through the studies of population genetics and reef connectivity, the researchers discovered that the reef populations are highly connected in South China Sea. Their results also showed that the coral reefs centered around the Spratly Islands are possibly important sources for marine juvenile recruitments. This project highlighted the integrity of the marine ecosystems of the Spratly islands and sustained the concept of the marine peace park. Moreover, there are as many as 571 species of reef building corals in the South China Sea, comparable with those in the Coral Triangle, the global center of marine biodiversity. Comprehensive research on diversity of fish and corals above all pointed out that the establishment of marine protected areas in the waters near the Spratlys demands immediate attention.  

The Taiping Island is the only coral island of the Tizard Bank (Zheng He Reefs). Coral reefs around this island are well developed with high marine biodiversity. The Taiping Island and its surrounding waters currently are under the control of the Coast Guard Administration of Taiwan. The research and delineation of the marine protected areas will enable the government of Taiwan to declare the determination to protect the Taiping Island and the Tizard Bank as well as to demonstrate how the government values the conservation of the marine resources. Through the planning of the protected areas and the implement of the following management, we also achieve the assertion of our sovereignty over the South China Sea.