Volunteers go to shoal to protect it from erosion

CLIMATE THREATS: Waisanding Sandbar has long been threatened by erosion due to extreme weather and a declining sediment supply, a Chiayi official said

More than 100 people on Tuesday traveled to Waisanding Sandbar (外傘頂洲), Taiwan’s largest shoal, to help protect it from erosion by building sand-trapping structures from discarded oyster racks.

The Chiayi County Environmental Protection Bureau brought together more than 100 staff members and volunteers to travel by recreational fishing boats to Waisanding Sandbar, a roughly 1,000-hectare shoal about 10km off Dongshi Township (東石), to carry out sand-conservation work.

The team used abandoned bamboo oyster racks, oyster shells and other marine debris to build square sand-trapping structures, which were anchored to the shoal, the bureau said yesterday.

People work to build sand-trapping structures using discarded oyster racks on the beachhead of the Waisanding Sandbar in Chiayi County on Tuesday.

Photo courtesy of the Chiayi County Government

The team completed three cubic structures, each measuring 3m in height and width, and built with about 300 discarded oyster racks, it added.

The project was carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Water Resources Agency, with technical guidance from National Cheng Kung University’s Tainan Hydraulics Laboratory.

The shoal has long been threatened by erosion due to extreme weather and a declining sediment supply, Chiayi County Environmental Protection Bureau Director Chang Hui-chuan (張輝川) said.

Waisanding Sandbar serves as a natural buffer protecting the coastlines of Chiayi and Yunlin counties from wind and waves while helping stabilize the shoreline and providing habitats for marine life, Chang said.

The county government has continued efforts in the past few years to prevent the shoal from shrinking, he added.

The campaign serves as a practical effort to protect Taiwan’s coastline from the impacts of climate change, Chang said.

The campaign turns discarded marine debris into structures that help combat sand erosion, putting the principles of a circular economy into practice, said Lin Chun-ju (林春如), a division chief at the environmental bureau.