Applying the System Conservation Planning Method to the South Penghu Marine National Park in Taiwan

Chen, L.-S.; Liu, W.-H., and Yen, H.-L., 2019. Applying the system conservation planning method to the South Penghu Marine National Park marine protected area in Penghu. In: Yu, T.-s. (ed.), Environmental Sustainability: Water Resources Integrated Management and the Development of Coastal Environments. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 96, pp. 50-61. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The South Penghu Marine National Park, Taiwan, has been established to protect special geological landscapes, traditional settlement buildings, and historical culture; at present, it is covered by coral reefs about 50% of the area. However, the desired level of protection may not be achieved without the adoption of systematic planning methods. Therefore, we applied the system conservation planning method, including stakeholder's participation, to the planning process of the Park. Then, according to the value of diversity of each site, we set the purpose and objectives of protection. The system conservation planning method aims to achieve the largest ecological conservation purposes with the minimum socio-economic cost, and to promote the development of the South Penghu Marine National Park marine protected area. Therefore, we used coral coverage rate and fish richness data, as well as socio-economic data on the harvest of the most used fishing techniques, i.e., fishing line, long line, trolling line, and gill net. The results of the Marxan analysis show that the coral coverage rate is notably high along the coast of the islands of Dongyu Pingyu, Xiyu Pingyu, and Dongjiyu, where the fishing industry is not fully developed because of the existing seabed type. Hence, this area can be considered to be established as an ecological marine protected area.