More Than Whale Watching

Looking back toward his native Hualien from the deck, cetacean acoustics specialist Wen Chai-sheng, an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU), reflects on how, after years in the semiconductor industry, he returned to NTOU, his alma mater, for doctoral study. He chose blue whale vocalizations as his research topic, a decision that brought him home again and deepened his connection to Hualien.

Behind Wen’s remarkable journey stands Turumoan Whale Watching, a Hualien-based company that has provided him with vital support.

Wen Chai-sheng’s research into cetacean acoustics brought him back to his native Hualien. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)

Charting a different course

Turumoan general manager Lu Shih-ming recalls that when chairman Lin Chen-li recruited him 12 years ago, Lin repeatedly stressed that the company was not founded for profit alone. Its purpose was to “promote ocean education.”

Yet the northeast monsoon sharply curtails Hualien’s whale-watching operations each winter. “We couldn’t all go off and sell ginger duck hotpot, could we?” Lu remembers thinking. Drawing on his hotel industry experience and marketing instincts, he decided, “Why not branch out?”

The Covid-19 pandemic pushed the Turumoan team to expand even further. It began giving talks at schools, mounting exhibitions with theater groups, running a cultural center, and linking up with like-minded local businesses to create a travel network.

Nonetheless, perhaps its most important contribution has been in science and pedagogy. Even before Covid, Turumoan had already spent years supporting marine survey voyages for the Hualien-based Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation. Over time, scholars and students interested in marine research began approaching the company about collaborations. Lu often agreed simply because a project sounded “fun” or “interesting.” “Fish help the water, and the water helps the fish,” he says, describing a relationship of mutual support.

Driven by a passion for ocean education, Turumoan has also eagerly branched out into other sectors. (courtesy of Turumoan Whale Watching)

Lu Shih-ming (left) and Wen Chai-sheng immediately found common ground in their first conversation. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)

Supporting marine research off Taiwan’s East Coast

In 2018, Turumoan partnered with National Taiwan Ocean University on a marine-debris survey that incorporated citizen science into whale-watching trips. Volunteers received free passage and recorded debris during each voyage, helping build a marine debris map of the waters off Hualien.

After the April 3, 2024 Hualien earthquake, Turumoan worked with Yen Jiun-yee, a professor in National Dong Hwa University’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, to survey destruction from the temblor. The team put to sea and used drones to document road and roadbed damage along the Suhua Highway and changes to the adjacent coastal landscape.

Another collaborator was Wen Chai-sheng, , who had heard about Turumoan’s work. He had originally planned to conduct laboratory research using overseas cetacean acoustic datasets. But he and Lu immediately found common ground in their first conversation, launching field surveys of cetaceans in the Pacific off eastern Taiwan. 

At first, Wen thought he would be satisfied to collect just ten acoustic recordings a year. Lu encouraged him to aim higher, saying, “You’ll understand once you try.” He added: “If you ever find yourself surrounded by sperm whales, or realize how likely you are to encounter cetaceans here, most people are stunned. Only then do you understand that Taiwan’s seas are nowhere near as barren as you imagined—and just how rich they are.” On his first trip, Wen heard the deep, powerful calls of false killer whales. He soon realized Lu had not exaggerated.

To carry the research forward more systematically, Wen joined marine writer Liao Hung-chi and ecologist Lan Chen-feng in establishing the Hualien Formosa Association, which  trains volunteers known as “Ocean Helpers.” Meanwhile, Turumoan operates five-hour “Visit the Pacific Sperm Whale π Project” sailings focused on locating sperm whales. Volunteers join the voyages to take photographs and make underwater recordings.

The Hualien Formosa Association trains volunteers who join Turumoan’s “Visit the Pacific Sperm Whale π Project” sailings to take photographs and make underwater recordings.

To continue his marine research systematically, Wen Chai-sheng joined marine writer Liao Hung-chi and ecologist Lan Chen-feng in establishing the Hualien Formosa Association, which runs the “Visit the Pacific Sperm Whale π Project.” (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)

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Now in its fourth year, the project organizes dozens of sailings annually and has amassed more than 1,000 seconds of acoustic data from waters off Hualien. The recordings are being organized in the Acoustic Signature Database for Cetacean in Taiwan Eastern Maritime Waters (ASACTER database) and shared through the open-access research repository Figshare. “You could say this gives us another way to see Taiwan,” Wen says with pride.

“We have never done this for the spotlight or to win awards,” Lu says of these side projects. With its boats, Turumoan has spent years supporting scientific work along an East Coast where marine field research is difficult. “Turumoan doesn’t simply take tourists out to see whales and dolphins. It is more like a platform—one that can make more interesting, seemingly impossible things happen.” By redefining what a whale-watching company can be, Turumoan is ready to help people write new stories with the sea.

Every voyage with Turumoan begins another story with the sea.