The Last Dance of the Black-faced Spoonbill in Taiwan

The Black-faced Spoonbill, the only spoonbill globally threatened, has the most restricted range and a total population of less than 350 in the world. Taiwan, an island with about 400 kilometers (220 miles) in length located offshore of Mainland China to the east, is the largest wintering ground of the Black-faced Spoonbill. These wintering grounds are facing various threats recently. In 1997, there were about 280 birds (80% of the worldwide population of this species) habituating in Tainan County in Taiwan, near the mouth of the Tseng Wen River. Was this a good news for bird-watchers? Not really. Because the local government had a long term policy of development on this same beautiful wetland.

Between 1984 and 1987, the County government constructed a dike with 3 floodgates along the north edge of this river to reclaim the land for industrial park construction. Access was restricted and people using the surrounding land were told to stop their routine activities. An area of 827 ha was enclosed by the dike, including 280 ha of tidal flats which were formed by the new land drained by the dike (Kennerly 1990). Because this drainage caused an open plain and an isolated swamp, shy birds could see other approaching animals, including human disturbance. That might be why Black-faced Spoonbills chose this for their winter home(Hsueh et al. 1993). Besides, they also could fide enough prey in the nearby ponds, which were in various stages of utilization, were used to raise fish and crabs, and contained about 40 species of juvenile fish. In addition, oyster farming occured in the adjacent Chiku lagoon.

On this wide wetland stage, there were two kinds of conflicting stakeholders: one was the developers, whose perspective focused on the benefits of transition from the bald lagoon to the valuable industrial park; the other one was the conservationists, who wanted this diverse wildlife habitat to be reserved as the first wetland national park in Taiwan.

In 1992, the Black-faced Spoonbill was listed as an endangered species in Taiwan's Wildlife Conservation Law. This event resulted in a series of social debates and arguments. After the Environmental Impact Statement for the Chiku Industrial Park was turned down by the National Environmental Protection Administration, the angry mayor of Chiku village, who supported the development, tried to interrupt bird-watching tourism, and threatened to poison the river to remove "black-faced birds" forever. At the same time, someone anonymous shot and killed two Black-faced Spoonbills. (In Taiwan, hunting is illegal!) This plight of the spoonbills became an intense media spotlight in Taiwan. I still remember that news was in the headlines for a couple of days, and the public blame pushed the national government to take steps to protect the remaining birds from such wanton violence. However, because the international corporation promised the County government the factory project with a industrial port which would bring big tax money to the finances of the poor county, the national government had a hard time to indulging the dilemma, and voiced concern for the rare birds but did not formally declare the delta zone as a protected sanctuary. So, the development projects are on hold but not have not yet been canceled. There are also plans for construction of a refinery and a steel mill on the property just north of the birds’ roosting area. Some political leaders, who are supported by the capital forces of this development case, still try to shape the public opinion with their control of media.

On the opposite side, the preservationists include different interest groups, who share several common environmental perceptions. Local seashore villagers want to sustain their traditional oyster farming and abundant fishery. Nearby community-based civic improvement groups want the wetland national park idea, combining the contemporarily popular ecotourism, which could enhance the income of residents and increase the public welfare. Other greening groups, like the Wild Bird Society and the Wetland Protection Association, are eager to protect this last largest lagoon in Taiwan, and to keep the public awareness supporting grass-rooted environmental movements between the other counties. If the development of the industrial park proceeds as planned, then this excellent area will be destroyed and no other suitable site for the spoonbills exists within 30 km (17 miles). Environmental activists suggest a nature preserve should be established including this semi-natural area within the dike and the surrounding land. In addition, in this unstably endiked ecosystem, it needs to be actively managed to maintain ideal conditions for wildlife habitat, watershed fishery resources and local life-style aesthetics.

Yes, we are talking about some unpleasant things in our society. Like most areas of the Third World, environmental issues are always about the combined concerns of ecology and a broadly defined political economy. Due to the lack of money, power, academic knowledge, and skills and public visionability of the local community, their sustainable fishery association would hardly convince the government to change its plan. Their innocence also leads to the gradual loss of landownership in the vicinity which is slowly being transferred to the smart businessmen. Several involved non-government organization allies try to promote the strategic level to aggressively solicit recent information throughout the world. The war seems endless. The future of the rare symbolic birds, the people and the land is really an uncertain question mark.

Policy-making is too complicated and difficult to be straight forward. The mayor and the company focus on successful development and the economy, but conservationists are looking for better environmental quality. What is the fate of thess big birds, the Black-Faced Spoonbill? Will they fail to survive the coming summer in Taiwan? Does mankind accumulate enough wisdom to sustain both human and natural resources? We are still struggling to find the answers.

Literature Cited

Hsueh, P. W., C. W. Yen, and W. H. Chou. 1993. Food habits of Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor (Temminck and Schlegal) wintering in Taiwan. Bulletin of National Museum of Natural Science 4:87-90. Taichung, Taiwan.

Kennerly, P. R. 1990. A review of the status and distribution of the .Black-faced Spoonbill. Pages116-125 in Pickens V, editor. The Hong Hong Bird Report 1989. Hong Kong Bird Watching Society. Hong Kong.