Power of the group A Memo for Sea Turtle Conservation (1997) in Lanyu, Taiwan

Many “successful” people evaluate their power with what kind of status they own and how rich they are. However these “powerful” men sometimes have never won public respect or appreciation at all, even though they really have done a lot of things. One biological research of mine is the very different example against this issue. During this project about protecting sea turtles in an island, I developed a philosophy that “we should make group powerful, instead of a powerful leader above others.” The idea, “how to transfer power from individuals to community”, impressed me deeply with the interaction between my personal insight and the surrounding community environment. Local people there have been getting familiar with me and then saw me as from a stranger to a trustful friend. Furthermore our close discussion with argument made us recognize together to work hard for something valuable. To struggle for one goal with friendship make our group powerful.

How did it get to start? When I was 25 after graduating from a biology department in college, I went to the “Lanyu” island to have an occasional vacation. This small island, where is full of orchids, is off the eastern Taiwan shore. I found there was an endangered population of green sea turtles there, which had not been reported before. They feed and migrate between the Pacific ocean nearby and lay eggs on the unspoiled seashore in Lanyu island. As soon as I could, I applied to survey their reproductive status even though I was not familiar with the native islanders at all.

In the beginning, I observed the ecology of sea turtles alone at the dark night and all villagers saw me as a strange research-assistant. Gradually with the common experience in fishing, boating and living together, more and more local people knew me and were very curious about my study. I spent a long time in explaining why I conducted this research, how important it was and what benefit they would get from tourism development. Later, many voluntary youth joined our team with the same concept and feeling to nature conservation. More and more, our grassroot group grew and found that our power was from deep agreement after strong debating, rather than the funding or the support of the college's equipment and resources.

When we tried to increase the participators, I clearly realized that knowing someone was easy but moving them was much more difficult. I knew that the excellent opportunity to change this was education. So I gave many lectures for scattered schools in this remote island and kept a close friendship with the children, teachers and elders in the tribe. At last, they gave me a nick name calling me Mr. Turtle, and the kids also loved to call me Brother or Uncle Turtle. Actually we were beginning to get a lot of powerful help as we won them over to save the sea turtles and our living environment.

During these years, news of our work became spread throughout Lanyu and Taiwan. People wanted to know who we were and what had we done. We have presented two academic papers, established three survey stations in the villages and even had a successful festival with an exhibition about sea turtles. Especially, that exhibition was an unforgettable memory, because friends worked with me day and night without sleeping. Moreover, we tried to train the natives to develop this project about eco-tourism. We do hope, after building the basic data, the protective area will be established under the efficient management of the local tribal committee.

This experience told me being powerful in a group is a calm, steady process to reflect our belief and thought, including the characteristics of trust, love and selfless devotion. Mental growth will make us more and more "powerful". It's a dynamic interaction to enrich our inner brain and the outer environment and society.