The assessment results of "Operation and Management of Wetlands of International and National Importance" by the Construction and Planning Agency of the MOI for the year 2019-2020 have been released, and the Xucuogang Wetland in Taoyuan City was once again awarded the national "Outstanding" award for standout performance. Today (Jan 7), the Director-General of the Office of Coast Administration Construction of the Taoyuan City Government (TYOCA), Lin Li-Chang, received the award from Lin Biing-Shiun, Branch Director of Urban and Rural Development Branch of the Department of Construction, Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior, at the Suantou Sugar Factory Cultural Park in Chiayi County.
Xucuogang straddles the coast of Dayuan and Guanyin, and boasts a rich and diverse ecological environment, featuring intertidal areas, marshes and sandbars due to the developed topography of the surrounding estuary. It is a typical coastal wetland and is located right in the middle of the migratory birds' south-to-north route, making it a very important stop for the birds to rest and recover. Xucuogang has been rated as an important wild bird habitat by BirdLife International and bird watching in the area is possible almost all year round. However, the ecological environment was threatened in the past as the area was occupied by illegal fish farms for a long time and the estuary of Laojie River is severely silted up, with the number of waterfowl visits decreasing year by year. Since 2018, the TYOCA has been implementing a comprehensive wetland construction and rehabilitation project in Xucuogang, adopting a "bird-based" ecological approach, successfully restoring 22 hectares of wetland area with an average of 10,000 waterfowl visiting each year, 2.3 times more than before the rehabilitation, making it a wetland paradise for waterfowl.
TYDEP Director-General Chen Shih-Wei noted that to protect the ecological environment of Xucuogang Wetland, a lot of effort has been made in environmental cleaning and technological monitoring, including the establishment of 16 "Coastal Patrol Teams," 6 "Environmental Diving Teams" and 3 "Environmental Fleet Teams" with a total of about 1,000 volunteers contributing to removing coastal debris. The density of coastal debris has dropped from 6 kg per square meter in 2019 to 3 kg, more than doubling the reduction of debris. Furthermore, high-tech monitoring equipment running 24 hours a day have been deployed to guard the wetland environment. For example, electronic fences with face recognition and movement tracking functions were set up to automatically warn and broadcast eviction warnings if someone is found to be trespassing in the protected area to capture wildlife. Shoreline CCTV systems, wetland hydrology monitoring equipment, drone monitoring systems, automatic coastal water quality measurement stations and weather condition high-frequency radar stations have also been set up to monitor the wetland environment from land, sea and air, deploying Internet of Things technology. All monitoring data and captured images are transmitted back to the Coastal Environmental Monitoring Technology Center via the Internet to predict the trend of environmental changes, and to assess the health of wetlands through big data analysis.
Chen also added that the environment has greatly improved and the waterfowl have returned. The TYOCA has organized the winter bird watching season for two consecutive years in the winter of 2021 and early 2022, and it has become a landmark environmental education activity in the Xucuogang Wetland, providing bird watching guides, challenge activities, migratory bird landscape art, a number of DIY experiences and storytelling courses with picture books, encapsulating the spirit of education in entertainment. The activities have received a positive response from the public, allowing the participants to learn by doing and play by learning. The season of migratory birds is also set to become a regular annual event at Xucuogang, allowing the bird guides to show the public how to appreciate these northern visitors who have flown over thousands of miles to get here, as well as to appreciate the beauty of this wetland.
Chen further stressed that the season of eel fry harvesting in Xucuogang is also from November to February every year, but due to changing times, the culture of eel fry fishing is gradually being lost and the eel racks are left idle for years, extending the problem of environmental decay and dirtiness. In order to preserve the fishing culture of the area and to take care of the livelihood of fishermen, the comprehensive survey and registration of eel hatcheries have been conducted since January 2020, and the coastal landscape is being gradually restored. Every year, the Xucuogang Eel Fishing Facility Creative Design Competition is held to transform the eel fry rack into the most iconic new landmark in Xucuogang. In the future, eel fishing experience activities combined with eco-tourism are expected to be launched, so that eel catchers can increase their source of income during low season and pass on the important fishing culture of Xucuogang.
According to the TYOCA, the 2.6-kilometer-long bicycle path along the waterfront of Dayuan has been completely revamped and completed, and the last interruption of the waterfront bikeway, the Xucuogang Bicycle Scenic Bridge project, is expected to be completed and opened to traffic in February this year. Construction of the Xucuogang Low Carbon Transit Center, Wetland Park and Ecological Corridor is set to kick off this year, providing motorcycle parking, bicycle rental and electric bus connections on holidays, so that more people can visit to discover the beauty of Xucuogang Wetland in a eco-friendly and fun way.