The survival of fisheries under wind turbines 01 "Changhua offshore will insert thousands of wind turbines, fishing fishermen forced to withdraw, transformation is imminent

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There are frequent disputes over offshore wind power and fishing. Changhua, which is located at the midpoint of the west coast, is currently the county and city with the largest wind field in the open sea. in the future, the sea will be filled with thousands of turbines. Wind turbines and shipping lanes have cut the outer waters of Changhua into pieces, leaving almost no complete sea area for fishermen to operate. Coastal fishermen will not be able to continue fishing. Where should we go?.

The serious challenge facing fishermen in Changhua may be the epitome of offshore fishing in western Taiwan. The compensation of wind power to the fishing industry is only an one-off economic remedy, and the follow-up livelihood of fishermen is still unknown. After facing several years of struggle and conflict, the Changhua District Fisheries Association put forward a plan of "reconciliation and symbiosis" in 2019, hoping to be funded by wind power manufacturers and set up a platform by industry officials to promote "offshore pastures." to turn capture fisheries into offshore aquaculture and to explore the possibility of coexistence of fisheries and turbines.

Chen Zhuzan, director-general of the Changhua District Fisheries Association, said frankly, "this plan is very stressful and risky, but for the sake of the sustainability of the fishing industry in Changhua and the livelihood of fishermen, we must try it, otherwise the fishing industry in Changhua will face life and death." (please click here to read the following)

In the future, the outer sea of Changhua will be full of fans, and the traditional fishing method will be forced to exit completely (photography / tortoise). The outer sea of Changhua is full of fans, and seven operators will enter the battlefield.

There are three stages of domestic offshore wind power development: demonstration reward, potential site and block development. According to the "Application Operation points for Offshore Wind Power Planning sites" announced in July 2015, among the 36 potential sites planned in the second phase, 21 are offshore wind farms in Changhua, with an initial plan of 2500 square kilometers, accounting for more than half of the country's potential sites.

Even in 2017, the Port Bureau of the Ministry of Communications coordinated with the Energy Bureau on the grounds of "navigation safety", excluding the potential sites 20 to 25 of the north-south waterway, there are still nearly 2000 square kilometers of sea area off Changhua as the wind farm reservation.

Changhua County has a land area of only 1174 square kilometers, and the offshore wind field is nearly twice the area of Changhua, which is 100 times the size of seven Taipei City and the largest natural lake in the country. As a battleground for military personnel, the two stages of development in the open sea of Changhua are spread over seven operators, and the importance is self-evident.

If the north-south waterway drawn by the Port Bureau, the direct navigation channel between the two sides of Taichung Port, and the Taichung No. 6 light channel on the south side are painted in (see attached picture), the outer sea of Changhua has been cut up by wind fields and waterways, and the fishing space for fishermen is only a narrow space of about 9 miles and 10 kilometers along the coast.

The outer sea of Changhua is almost cut by wind power sites and waterways, and there is little fishing area left for fishing boats. Port Bureau of the Ministry of Communications

EIA data pointed out that even if site 20-25 is excluded, 1071 large turbines will still be scattered on the sea surface off Changhua. Taken from the EIA document, fishery experts: the planned potential site has no consideration for fishing, and the open sea is fully ceded to wind power suppliers.

So, how on earth is the wind power site in the outer sea of Changhua planned? Ou Ching-hsien, a professor in the Department of Environmental Biology and Fisheries Science at Ocean University who participated in wind power development as a fishery expert, revealed that the fishing industry and fishermen were not taken into account at the beginning of the planning, and even the Fisheries Department was informed after the site selection planning began.

Only when the Energy Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs asked the Industrial Research Institute to plan the wind farm in Taiwan did the Fisheries Administration know. The ITRI's planning only takes into account the technical aspects and makes exclusions in accordance with water depth, current and wind fields, topography, and relevant laws and regulations, but the parts related to fisheries do not ask local fishermen and fishing associations, so they make an announcement. " He said.

Looking through the EIA document, the important basis for the EEA to draw potential sites in the second stage is to eliminate all relevant laws and regulations, such as conservation reef areas, port areas, artificial reefs, artillery firing areas, and so on. wetlands and important habitat areas of white dolphins. After excluding these sensitive locations, almost all of the Changhua sea area extrapolated to the wind power companies.

Ou Ching-hsien believes that Changhua is an extreme case in the process of wind power development. almost the entire open sea space that can operate is filled with wind farms, traditional fishing grounds are cut to pieces, and the living space of fishermen is compressed to the limit.

In the future, the outer sea of Changhua will be fully filled with wind turbines (photo source / Changhua County Government). There will be one wind turbine per square kilometer.