Four islands and islets of southern Penghu and their surrounding waters will be designated as a future national park, which will be Taiwan's ninth and its second marine national park, Premier Jiang Yi-huah announced today.
"This designation will help safeguard the four islands and islets' special basalt geology, rich and diverse marine ecology, and unique cultural communities while facilitating the sustainable use of natural resources," he said.
The premier made these remarks at the Cabinet meeting after being briefed by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) on its progress in planning the new park.
Jiang instructed the MOI to take nature conservation, protection of local residents' rights and interests, and promotion of ecological tourism into consideration when managing the park in the future.
The park will cover approximately 370 hectares of land area and 35,473 hectares of surface water, the MOI stated. Located in the southern waters of the Penghu archipelago—which is also known as the Pescadores Islands—the park will be east of Wang-an and Qimei islands and will encompass the Dongji and Xiji islands and the Dongyuping and Xiyuping islets as well as their surrounding reefs.
Besides actively promoting the park's conservation of resources, the MOI is also carrying out preservation and reinvigoration of traditional communities as well as Cai Zhai, or "beehive farms," which are networks of fields enclosed in short walls that shield crops from strong wind. The ministry has also set up environmentally friendly public service facilities and will promote marine environmental education and in-depth green tourism, as well. It is hoped that such initiatives will help take care of resource conservation, public edutainment, and residents' rights and interests in order to create green sustainable islands.