TAIPEI: An Academia Sinica researcher called Friday for urgent legislation to protect Taiwan's endangered coral reefs. The world's largest marine organisms are more important than the giant panda, said Chen Chao-lun, an associate research fellow at the Biodiversity Research Center. His remarks came as he released findings of a 2008 research project on the state of Taiwan's coral reefs.

Chen warned that Taiwan's coral reefs are threatened by the so-called "black disease": attacks from a kind of black sponge that co-exists with algae.

There are other dangers, he added. The coral-centered marine ecology of the reefs has been thrown dangerously out of balance because of overfishing.

Researchers failed to observe in Taiwan's coastal waters any of the typical large coral reef species such as groupers, parrot fish, lobsters or large sea snails known as triton, he added.

The report concluded black sponge is attacking coral reefs around the islets of Green Island and Lanyu off southeastern Taiwan.

"The coral dies once it is covered by the sponge, " said Yang Sung-ying, an assistant to Chen.

According to Chen, little is known in academic circles about the sponge, except that it is spreading fast and posing a serious threat to the marine ecology.

The findings of the survey around Green Island showed that the sponge grew by 20 percent in the 2007-2008 period, he said. In Lanyu, divers working on the survey project found signs of black sponge at almost every dive location, he added.

Coverage was 10 percent on average, with the greatest spread reaching 26 percent, the scholar said, adding that further investigation is needed to determine what is causing the spread of the disease.

Meanwhile, in the marine areas that were surveyed, including waters off Taitung's Shanyuan and Penghu's Dongyuping where the coral reef coverage is 70 percent, there were few signs of reef fish, he said.

This means that "while the marine ecology appears healthy, actually it is not", Chen said, expressing concern that any further negative impact on the reefs would be "the straw that breaks the camel's back".

According to Chen, coral plays a far more vital role in the global ecology than what he called "star animals" like pandas and whales. Coral reefs should be protected by law, especially since under present legislation there are no laws banning the harvesting of marine life or prohibiting human activities that might threaten the survival of the coral based ecology, Chen said.

The marine biologist suggested that coral reefs should be regarded as a life form, instead of rocks or stones.

In addition, "coral reef fish and sea snails should be listed as protected wild animals, instead of seafood," he said.

Chen also suggested that the government pay attention to the threat to Taiwan's coral reefs posed by global climate change, and advised swifter action to cut carbon dioxide emissions in order to slow down the impact of global warming on coral reefs.

The global marine ecology would be destroyed if coral reefs vanished from the sea, he warned.

The research on coral reefs in Taitung county, southeastern Taiwan, and the Penghu archipelago off southwestern Taiwan proper was launched in 2008 by the non-profit Taiwan Marine Environment Education Promotion Association and the Taiwan Environmental Information Association.

CNA

(HK Edition 02/07/2009 page1)