Geographic technology application in coastal zoning: a case study in Changhua Taiwan

Abstract

Spatial planning is a crucial tool for enabling governments around the world to manage their coastal zones (Douvere 2008) For example a manager could use spatial planning to implement effective planning and reduce source waste or conflicts among different sea users and the environment However due to the three-dimensional nature of marine environments ocean zoning for various sectors will be a challenge for government authorities As offshore activities have increased over the last decade marine spatial planning (MSP) has gradually become an important tool for governments to manage their marine geographies The Changhua offshore area is dominated by multiple uses including fishing grounds an industrial zone an ecological protection area waterways and ongoing offshore wind farming In July 1999 the Fisheries Agency authorized the water within 3 nautical meters of shore as an exclusive fishing rights area According to the Renewable Energy Development Act of Taiwan there are two offshore wind farms located adjacent to the exclusive fishing rights area Meanwhile the result of ecological investigation shows that Changhua offshore is an important habitat for the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin which is an endangered species and there have been many sightings recorded in this area (Chou et al 2011) The local fisheries have influenced the Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin but the wind farms affect the local fisheries as well To investigate conflicts resulting from the competition of multiple users and the environment this study analyzed spatial relations among the users and the environment integrating these users and the environment into the same layer via a geographic information system (GIS) This study therefore proposed an improvement for coastal management according to the result The results of this study suggested that the water 3 kilometers away from the coast should be a marine protection area (MPA) for the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin This MPA contains 76 4% of the dolphin sightings recorded and 13 1% of the catches from gill nets would be affected within the exclusive fishing zone In addition the wind farm in the water within the fishing ground of the Changhua Fisheries Association resulted in conflicts between fishermen’s livelihood and the green energy development policy of the central government Approximately 27% of the total catch will potentially be affected by the wind farm These scientific databases of fishing data and ecological investigation should be the key elements for improving the coastal zone planning framework at regional scales because reliable information could be used for both reasonable MPA planning and acceptable compensation for fishermen

Date of Award	2016 Aug 2
Original language	English
Supervisor	Yi Chang (Supervisor)