CHALLENGER DEEP: Lin Ying-Tsong was invited by Caladan Oceanic founder Victor Vescovo to join him on a 10-hour long trip in the company’s submersible

By Lin Chia-nan

Taiwanese-American Lin Ying-Tsong (林穎聰) last month became the first person from Asia and the 12th in human history to dive into the deepest part on Earth, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench.

Lin, 45, an expert in deep sea acoustics with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts, joined US adventurer and Caladan Oceanic founder Victor Vescovo, 54, on June 22 in a descent to the central pool of the Challenger Deep, the deepest point of the trench, which lies at a depth of more than 10,900m.

The pair made the descent in a submersible named Limiting Factor, a US$37 million two-seater commissioned by Vescovo from Triton Submarines.

Inside the submersible’s capsule the pressure was kept at one standard atmospheric pressure, while the temperature dropped from about 28 ° C to 20 ° C during the dive and climb, he said, adding that the dive and the return climb took a total of 10 hours.

There are three windows in the capsule, and when looking out from the window beneath their feet, he felt as if he was doing a “seawalk,” Lin said.

The ocean bottom appeared to be an otherworldly desert of deadly gray, where only limited species, such as amphipods, can survive the extreme conditions, he said.

When ascending to the surface, he saw, from the depth of nearly 300m, sunlight gradually extend into a carpet of radiance that brought all colors back, he said, describing the scene as a “sunrise in ocean.”

Maintaining the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the capsule was a matter of life and death, so Vescovo, who was piloting the craft, had to regularly check that oxygen was evenly released, Lin said.

The submersible was equipped with an oxygen reserve sufficient to last two passengers for four days.

Lin’s descent was part of the Caladan Oceanic’s Ring of Fire expedition that began last month, which also included dives by former NASA astronaut Kathy Sullivan — the first US woman to complete a spacewalk — and Kelly Walsh — the son of Don Walsh, the first person to descend to the Challenger Deep, in 1960.

Asked how he got involved in the team, Lin said he received an e-mail invitation from Vescovo, whom he had not met before, in late May after he returned from a cruise to measure underwater acoustics for an offshore wind farm project.

While Vescovo reportedly has opened some dive slots for paying customers, Lin said his descent was sponsored by Vescovo.

“I must have done something noble in my former life, such as saving millions of lives, to have the opportunity to join the team,” he said, still sounding excited by his adventure.

“Because he is an expert in deep ocean acoustics, measurement, and tracking, Dr Lin’s involvement in the expedition was important in advancing further exploration and understanding of how sound waves propagate in the deepest parts of the ocean,” Caladan Oceanic said in a press release.

“I was also happy to make the descent with the first person from Taiwan in a first for that country — and continent — since I strongly support the special US-Taiwan relationship,” Vescovo, a former US Navy commander, said in the statement.

Using the submersible and the company’s support ship the Pressure Drop, Lin conducted a series of acoustics experiments in the week of his dive, including surveying ambient sound and acoustic signals with a hydrophone recorder provided by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The surveys aim to advance understanding about how sounds propagate and refract in different ocean layers and how the derived coefficients can be applied to estimate the geological components of seabed, Lin said.

He said he had been impressed by how quiet the ocean could be.

The deep sea’s ambient sound only measured 55 decibels when there was no container ship passing by, as the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced ship traffic, he said.

Lin also admired the teamwork of the expedition team, which has concrete scientific goals, including mapping the sea floors and collecting biological and geological samples at the bottom of the Challenger Deep.

“I feel home here [the expedition] like at WHOI, because we are all team players, no individuals, no pointing fingers,” Lin wrote on Facebook on June 27.

Lin obtained his master’s and doctoral degrees from National Taiwan University’s engineering science and ocean engineering department, and then went to Woods Hole to conduct postdoc research, but stayed on after finishing his research project and is now a tenured associate scientist at the institute, where his work has won him several awards.

He said that he has benefited from decades-long Taiwan-US collaboration in ocean research and now he serves as a bridge to sustain the ties from his vantage point at one of the world’s top ocean research institutions.

Lin said that Taiwan’s government should lend more support to ocean sciences and promote public education about the oceans, while scientists from different backgrounds should strengthen their collaborative efforts.

“Taiwan is a maritime country” should be more than just a slogan, he said.

A strong nation is bolstered by its sea power, which could be enhanced by boosting ocean research capacity, he added.

Source:https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/07/10/2003739683

The Fisheries Agency on Thursday announced a ban on fishing three species of large sharks — megamouth, great white and basking sharks — in a bid to preserve biological diversity in waters off Taiwan.

Fishing vessels that catch these sharks by accident must release them back into the sea, whether they are dead or alive, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ban applies to Taiwanese fishing vessels regardless of where they fish and is to take effect in 60 days, if no objections are raised during that time.

The ban follows a 2008 ban on fishing whale sharks and a 2018 ban on fishing giant oceanic manta rays.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists great white sharks as a “vulnerable species” and basking sharks as an “endangered species.”

Although the IUCN in November 2018 categorized megamouth sharks as a species of “least concern” on its Red List, it recommended that Taiwan require that megamouth sharks be released when accidentally caught by people catching sunfish with driftnets.

It also recommended prohibiting driftnet fishing from April to August, when megamouth shark interactions are at their peak.

Given that megamouth sharks — the third-largest shark species by size, following whale sharks and basking sharks — are not the main catch of Taiwanese fishing vessels, the ban would help maintain the diversity of marine biology and improve the nation’s image as a conservator of large cartilaginous fish, the statement said.

Megamouth sharks are one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and basking shark. They are all cartilaginous fish, which have skeletons of cartilage, not bone.

Although vessels are banned from fishing the three species, catching them for teaching or scientific research is allowed after obtaining Cabinet-level approval from the Council of Agriculture, the agency said.

Since March 2013, when catches of the species had to be reported to the authorities, 138 megamouth sharks and 32 great white sharks have been caught in waters near Taiwan, agency data showed.

The new ban was applauded by the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST), a Taipei-based non-governmental organization that has pushed for the protection of megamouth sharks.

Megamouth sharks are rarer to spot than whale sharks, EAST chief executive Shih Wu-hung (釋悟泓) said.

From the species discovery and naming in 1976 to June 17, only 226 sightings of megamouth sharks have been recorded around the world, 146 of which were caught in Taiwan, he said.

“Saving megamouth sharks is of great urgency now,” Shih said.

Source:https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/07/18/2003740135

FIRST FOR TAIWAN: The company is the 11th shipowner in the world to become a member of the platform, which aims to encourage responsible ship recycling practices

By Kao Shih-ching

Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) yesterday disclosed its ship recycling policy as it joined the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI), which comprises firms that value its environmental, social and governance objectives.

The SRTI, launched in March 2018 and hosted by the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, a UK-based nonprofit organization, aims to accelerate responsible ship recycling practices by asking its members to share their policies on the platform so that the public can view them, Evergreen said.

Evergreen is the first Taiwanese shipping company to join the initiative, as well as the 11th shipowner member, following founding members such as China Navigation Co Pte Ltd (太古輪船), A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, D/S Norden A/S, Hapag-Lloyd AG and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics ASA, it said.

Evergreen requires the buyers of its decommissioned vessels to guarantee that the aged vessels are demolished rather than sold to be used second-hand, while vessels can only be recycled at shipyards that are certified by the International Organization for Standardization and are recognized as a “Green Ship Recycling” shipyard by the Hong Kong convention, it said.

When a vessel is decommissioned and recycled, not only can valuable and reusable resources such as steel be recycled, but waste and pollutants that could be dangerous to people and the environment must be processed properly, Evergreen said.

Evergreen’s pro forma contract contains a liquidated damage clause, which helps deter any ill-disposed buyer from doing anything that would contravene it, the company said.

Buyers need to provide reports weekly at least on the vessel’s recycling process to show that their practices are safe and environmentally sound, Evergreen said.

The company, which operates a modern fleet of about 190 container ships with a combined capacity of more than 1.2 million twenty-feet equivalent units, said that nine of its vessels have been recycled based on the policy.

Evergreen said it has a long-standing commitment to keeping the ocean clean, and aims to ensure responsible and sustainable operations.

Joining the SRTI would likely attract more international clients that value the environmental, social and governance objectives, as they prefer shipping firms that are SRTI members, it added.

Source:https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2020/08/05/2003741119

 

With two-thirds of its land gobbled up by developers and the government rejecting their bid for historic settlement, the residents of Makang refuse to give in.

By Han Cheung

Chen Wang-shi (陳罔市) doesn’t know where to go if she is forced to move. The 78-year-old Chen is an active “sea woman” (海女) in Taiwan’s easternmost fishing village of Makang (馬崗) in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮). When the waves are calm, she ventures out to forage for algae, oysters and other edible marine morsels. She lives alone in the village, as her children have moved to the cities for work, returning for weekends and festivals.

“I cannot get used to living in Taipei, and I feel very uncomfortable if I don’t go out to the ocean to forage. I have too deep an emotional connection to this place. Even if it’s inconvenient, I like it here,” Chen tells the Taipei Times inside her home a minute’s walk from the ocean.

With about two-thirds of Makang acquired by developers, Chen belongs to 22 households who face eviction. While the court battles between the developers and residents continue, the villagers are trying to preserve Makang by applying to the government for cultural heritage status for a cluster of 100-year-old stone houses and its sea women culture.

So far, two of the houses have been designated as historical buildings, but New Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs last August rejected Makang’s bid to list them collectively as a historic settlement.

Meanwhile, Yu Po-hsuan (游伯軒) and Yeh Kuei-hsien (葉貴嫻), two Taipei transplants who run a coffee shop in Makang, have been spearheading an effort to boost tourism, and Makang is a lot livelier on weekends than two years ago. They have also been emphasizing the area’s cultural heritage through guided tours and other activities.

“These developers often target remote places that escape the public eye,” Yu says. “That’s also their weakness; our goal is to let more people see and appreciate this place.”

The newfound attention has also instilled a sense of pride in the mostly elderly residents, who have lived here their whole lives and may not understand the significance of historical preservation.

“They now realize that the tourists actually like these stone houses and come take pictures of them on weekends. Now they are eager to tell people, ‘These are more than 100 years old,’” Yeh says.

FOSTERING LOCAL PRIDE

In the village’s heyday, 80-year-old Chiang-chen Pi-chu (江陳碧珠) and 50 other people lived in a four-sided residence with a stone courtyard. Today, she’s the only permanent resident left.

As a self-contained village, the land rights were never clearly recorded, and often confirmed by verbal agreement only. When the Japanese began implementing land registration policies in Taiwan, most villagers were illiterate or unfamiliar with the law, and for convenience’s sake they registered their land under a few individuals, who collected and paid the residents’ property taxes once per year.

Under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), those who had the land registered in their names became the legal owners of a large portion of the village. Tu Yu-wen (涂右文), CEO of the Environmental Rights Foundation (環境權保障基金會), says that as a result, the developers were able to purchase so much of Makang by convincing these landowners to sell the property without first speaking to the people who lived on the land. Her foundation has been providing professional and legal help to the villagers in their struggle.

When the developers began suing villagers in 2018 to evict them, the murky land rights history worked against them, and several households have lost their cases.

“The law does not consider historical context or development, if you don’t have evidence, it’s very hard to win,” Tu says.

Ironically, about 30 years ago the government attempted to designate these stone houses as historical buildings, but the residents refused out of distrust toward the authorities. Last year, they helped block a government plan to build a yacht marina in neighboring Maoao (卯澳) village.

When three New Taipei City cultural heritage review committee members visited the village to inspect the two historical buildings, one of them suggested that the villagers also apply for historic settlement status, which is why Yu and Yeh are surprised that their bid was rejected. The city insists that the suggestion was just the opinion of that member.

The couple, who moved here in 2016 from Taipei for its rustic charm, says that they had to first convince the elderly population that this was a place worth protecting. Through promoting activities, exhibits and tours, plus the growing popularity of the Caoling Circle-line Bikeway which opened in 2011, tourists can now be seen frolicing in the waters of the intertidal zones and taking photographs of the stone buildings. Local vendors have also popped up, selling marine specialities along the streets.

“At first, they didn’t know that people would be interested in their way of life here,” Tu says “Only in recent years have they realized how special of a place they live in.”

PROTOCOL VIOLATION

The New Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs rejected Makang’s bid for historic settlement on the grounds that many of the stone houses have been modified or remodeled with modern elements.

Weng Yu-chin (翁玉琴), the culture department’s chief secretary, says that the houses simply don’t qualify for the status due to their lack of uniformity. Weng gives Japan’s Shirakawago village as an example with its perfectly preserved clusters of thatched roof houses.

“The cluster in Makang is a hodgepodge of one-story and two-story houses, many with modern elements,” she says. “The collective history and appearance has been partially damaged. But we can still register the individual houses that are preserved well.”

Currently there are only 18 historic settlements across Taiwan.

Last month the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled that the city violated protocol at its cultural heritage review committee’s voting session by recusing Chang Chen-chung (張震鍾), one of 17 committee members, and the only who reportedly supported the village’s bid.

The city has appealed.

Regarding the administrative court case, Weng says Chang was hired by the Department of Cultural Affairs to independently research and report the viability of Makang as a historical settlement to the review committee, and that it was legal to recuse him from the meeting since his role was more of a witness. But the judge has deemed that his recusal violated the procedures for committee voting sessions.

“The final vote was 8-0, so New Taipei City claims that Chang wouldn’t have made a difference,” Yeh says. “But he could have influenced other committee members during the discussion process.”

Tu says that due to the responsibilities that come with the historical settlement status, coupled with the land disputes, the city may just be reluctant to approve the designation.

“The Department of Cultural Affairs often acts conservatively and cautiously,” she says. “They would rather there be fewer cultural heritage sites, otherwise it’s a very exhausting process to protect it, especially if landlords and developers are involved. They probably envision this case becoming quite tricky.”

Weng says they have appealed because they don’t agree with the verdict, not because they don’t want to preserve Makang’s cultural heritage.

Chang declined to comment due to the ongoing litigation.

MOVING FORWARD

Although no plans for developing Makang have been produced, Weng trusts the developers a lot more than the villagers do. In a public hearing, which she moderated, the developers said that they would incorporate the village’s traditions while developing the area, and expressed that the stone houses were worth preserving.

“We also know that the local residents don’t want to see too much change,” Weng says. “So the two sides can sit down and talk, and if needed the government can act as a mediator and consultant. Maybe we could work something out where some parts are preserved and some are reorganized, so the interests are more balanced.”

From talking to the villagers, however, the relations between the two sides are strained, especially in light of the eviction cases.

Currently, the city is waiting for the court cases — both theirs and the developers — to be resolved before taking any action, but Weng believes that the two historic building designations already offer much protection to Makang.

“Any development around these buildings has to be reviewed and approved by the government,” she says. “We have to maintain the atmosphere of the area; there cannot suddenly be a tall modern building next to the stone house. There are also limitations on development according to the environment and culture of the people.”

Echoing Yu and Yeh, Tu says that the only way to change the government’s mind is to attract more visitors and hope that they care about the place’s future enough to increase pressure on the authorities.

Tu says that even if the historic settlement bid fails, there are other ways to preserve the village.They can apply for cultural landscape status, which is the designation for Taipei’s illegal settlement-turned-artist village Treasure Hill (寶藏巖).

“Makang has the ocean, a settlement and rice terraces in the mountains. People were able to sustain themselves and fully utilize local resources. Their wisdom and experience can be preserved and passed on,” she says.

They can also aim to become a fishing village special district under the Urban Planning Act (都市計畫法),whereupon the residents will have a bigger say over the future of Makang.

“Part of the status entails how to preserve local traditions, but the residents have to work with the government as well as civic groups and the developers,” she says. “The residents need a clear and strong vision of what they want, so they have the leverage to negotiate with the developers.”

There is still a long way to go, Tu says, and she says that any delays in the process will buy them more time to develop this vision.

“Honestly, I’m fine with New Taipei City appealing the court case,” she says “At least we bought some more time to keep building up the confidence among the residents. This is just the beginning.”

Source:https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2020/08/13/2003741587