Marine conservation keynote speech “Hoping to Meet Free on the Ocean: Discussing Captured Cetaceans” On June 24, 2020.


On June 24, 2020, the OCA invited Director Hui-Chun Chang of the Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation to use “Hoping to Meet Free on the Ocean: Discussing Captured Cetaceans” as the topic to discuss the current cetacean performance industry and how captivity affects cetaceans.


During her speech, parts of the movie Blackfish were used to show the cruel inside story behind fun cetacean performances. Director Chang stated that currently, the world’s main cetacean performance market is concentrated in mainland China. Cetacean captivity is not only an environmental issue, but also an issue on how people look at life. Thus, efforts are put into amending animal protection laws. Phase objectives were completed in 2018. Currently, surveys are being conducted on actual cetacean performance situations in various locations. Taiwan only has a few remaining marine parks that provide cetacean performances.  


Furthermore, the movie The Cove shows cetacean hunting from a traditional culture perspective. Although cetacean conservation has become an international trend, Japan’s Taiji still has a traditional culture of hunting cetaceans. How to reach a balance between culture and conservation is a direction that requires more hard work in the future. Finally, Director Chang stated that they will continue to bring attention to cetacean captivity and work towards the objective of zero captivity. She expects to use advocacy education to teach sustainable ocean concepts to all the people.
Various local governments’ marine conservation educational websites
1. New Taipei City Fisheries and Fishing Port Affairs Management Office
2. Taoyuan City Office of Coast Administration Construction
3. Hsinchu City Ocean Education Promotion Center
4. Hsinchu County Ocean Education Resource Center
5. Taichung City Coastal Resource Fishery Development Center
6. Yunlin County Marine Education Resource Center
7. Chiayi County Marine Education Resource Center
8. Tainan City Agriculture Bureau
9. Penghu County Agriculture and Fisheries Bureau
10. Kinmen County Ocean Education Resource Center