The Age of Aquaria

The Pingtung National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium (NMMBA), eight years in preparation, went into trial operation in February of this year, and was immediately overwhelmed by thousands of visitors. The large number of vehicles and the crowds of people created traffic jams on the Pingtung-Oluanpi road. The NMMBA, which originally was going to accept visitors only by prior appointment, had little choice but to adopt a flexible opening policy in order to ease the crush.

The first thing you see at the NMMBA is the "whale plaza" with models of various types of whales. Life-sized models of mother and calf humpback whales break the surface of the water, while a sperm whale comes up for air. Under the clear blue skies of southern Taiwan, the beautiful shapes of these creatures, against the background of small children playing in the wading pool in the summer heat, creates a lovely image of man at one with the water.

When you enter the main hall, with a ceiling 21 meters high, you see dolphins, killer whales and various types of marine animals waving their tails from the ceiling as they head toward the ocean, which is beyond the enormous curtain-glass wall. The NMMBA has the models placed with their tails toward the entryway in an effort to overturn the traditional aquarium structure which places humans at the center. At the NMMBA, there really is a sense that you can follow the great fish into their own world, as humble guests seeking knowledge in the oceanic home of your hosts.

Besides the creative arrangement of the aquarium, the NMMBA plans to hold an annual special broadcast, undertaken in cooperation with the Public Television Service (PTS) and the Kenting National Park Headquarters, of coral spawning which occurs each third month on the lunar calender. Researchers from the NMMBA will go into the water with a camera crew from PTS to film the show. NMMBA coral expert Fan Tung-yun goes along to provide commentary, so that viewers can gain a deeper understanding of the coral spawning process and its ecological significance.

Let's go see the fish

As the NMMBA was opening its doors to enthusiastic crowds, the Taipei Sea World, the Tung-Hsiao Educational Sea World in Miaoli, and the Penghu Aquarium were going all out to sponsor various related activities that attracted waves of visitors.

Over the last two years, Taipei Sea World has launched an intensive series of shows staged around unusual fish from abroad. From the sea dragon and giant crab to the giant northern sea octopus and even the "sea angel" (Clione limacina) from the North Pole, the museum has succeeded in making exoticism a selling point. As a result of intensive media exposure, the Taipei Sea World has become the most famous aquarium in Taiwan.

Taipei Sea World devotes particular care to designing promotional activities that will spark public interest in sea creatures. For example, they selected 12 types of fish whose "personality characteristics" resemble those associated with the 12 signs of the Western zodiac (a popular fad in Taiwan these days). And during the run-up to the presidential election, the Taipei Sea World held its own balloting for "president of the sea." Through such activities, visitors, and especially children, get a deeper impression and can gain a greater understanding of sea life, and will be more likely to remain concerned about marine topics in the future.

Taipei Sea World general manager Chen Teh-sheng explains that since the institution is located in a metropolitan area, with only limited access to seawater, the aquarium has opted to appeal to the public with more refined display-tank designs and unusual imported sea creatures. The permanent "Taiwan Firsts" series displays rare sea life from around the globe. In addition the museum uses anthropomorphic packaging to heighten the appeal of these unusual creatures. For example, for the recent sea angel exhibit, accompanying dolls, badges, posters, and stationery products were put on the market at the same time.

The Penghu Aquarium (a division of the Council of Agriculture Fisheries Research Institute), which also makes "Taiwan firsts" a selling point, focuses instead on local sea life. The themes of its exhibits are local marine organisms that people often know from daily life. Hsu Chung-kang, an assistant at the facility, says that in this way, people get a sense of familiarity when they come to the aquarium, and are more interested in understanding the biology, habits, and behaviors of the animals.

For example, the recent exhibition of silver pomfret at the Penghu Aquarium was a quite successful effort. Virtually every household in Taiwan consumes silver pomfret, but few people understand how silver pomfret are geographically distributed, how many there are, and how they live. This is why the Penghu Aquarium invested so much effort in silver pomfret husbandry.

Says Hsu Chung-kang: "Silver pomfret are very combative fish, and in the process of being caught, they often injure themselves by fierce struggling, so they're very difficult to capture and care for." Their scales have specialized into a silvery powder, which easily flakes off if the fish are touched. After a silver pomfret is hooked, the fish is placed in a tank with the hook still in its mouth, until the specially designed hook falls out of the mouth of the fish. Otherwise, if someone picked up the fish to remove the hook, it would thrash around and injure itself. Thereafter, it takes two or three months to train the fish-which are normally willing only to eat live prey-to accept processed fish meat. Only then, after months of effort, can a rare "live" silver pomfret be exhibited. This is why Hsu is so proud that the exhibition was "one of our firsts for Taiwan!"

Don't let the fish die out!

The new wave of aquarium openings has sparked an unprecedented popularity for marine life. But in fact, the history of aquariums in Taiwan goes back nearly 40 years. The Chengching Lake Fresh Water Aquarium, which belonged to the Taiwan Water Supply Corporation, could be said to be the first in Taiwan. Total water capacity was 240 metric tons, even more than the Yehliu Ocean World, which opened later. "In fact, this was the largest aquarium in all of Southeast Asia," says Lan Hung-man, who worked there for more than 20 years as an aquarist.

With the exception of the Yehliu facility, whose main selling point is cetacean (whale and dolphin) shows, most of the older aquariums, in comparison with the new ones, had few regular visitors and only limited fish-husbandry technology. Consequently most relied on short-term exhibits, such as special exhibits of precious marine life held at the lunar new year. Cheng Chiang-fu, chairman of Chengching Lake Ocean World, a private aquarium on the edge of Chengching Lake, recalls the results of the lack of expertise and the pressure to minimize hardware costs for these short-term exhibits: On the first day, there was always a tank full of fish. By the second day, about half were dead. By the fifth, there were probably only one or two particularly hardy specimens still struggling in the water.

With the rise of environmental consciousness, the new aquariums have different operating concepts than those in the past. For example, one of the special features of the Penghu Aquarium is its "habitat tanks." These are tanks that recreate the natural environment of the creatures. This means that tanks are no longer simply places to stick fish, where they live out the remainder of their lives in isolation, but now take into account the habits of the fish. For example the octopus needs places to hide, so cover material or smaller tanks are placed inside for concealment. In other cases, creatures that are typically found in the same habitat are all placed in the same tank together.

The NMMBA's presence in the ranks of the new water worlds highlights the educational functions of aquariums. This also applies to the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology (NMMST) in Keelung, which is still in the preparatory stage. However, whereas other museums mostly focus on sea life, the NMMST will focus on the evolution of the fishing industry, aquaculture, and other industrial technology, as well as natural sciences like marine physics, chemistry, and geology. In the future, then, there will be an even more diversified selection of aquariums.

Fish tailing

The NMMBA is a strong promoter of the "new aquarium" perspective. As they draw mankind and ocean life closer together, aquariums can also provoke reflection on how to relate to the sea.

"Some people ask, 'Why do you have the butt end of the fish pointing toward the door?' In fact, when you come to the NMMBA, you should have the attitude of a humble guest following the fish into the sea." Fang Lee-shing, director of the Preparatory Office of the NMMBA, says that the 80-meter long undersea tunnel is particularly good at giving humans the sensation of being inside this other world. Water flows all around the tunnel, and the outer walls of the tank are invisible (just as the sea itself has no visible limit to something in it), while various kinds of marine life swim over the heads of visitors.

Fang explains that an aquarium should be a place where an individual can get close to the sea. Therefore, right when you enter the museum, the kids can go and play around in the whale plaza wading pool. Mrs. Lin from Tungkang says, "My six-year-old daughter likes the pool best of anything. Even when she's inside looking at the exhibits, she can't wait to get back out and play in the water." Conforming to the "at one with the sea" theme of the whale plaza and the undersea tunnel, when choosing fish to display, the NMMBA focuses on oysters and other marine creatures commonly raised in aquaculture. From these, the museum hopes people can realize that human life has in fact always been intimately connected to marine life.

Because state-run aquariums generally have more resources and more specialists, they can invest more in education. But in order to attract visitors, aquariums must also introduce new forms of sea life constantly. Privately-run aquariums in particular must capture the public fancy. "The honeymoon period of public affection for aquariums will pass quickly. Even the state-run aquariums will have to have periodic special exhibitions to attract visitors," says Hsu Chung-kang.

Fish welfare

Except for a small number of sea creatures which are attracting international attention because their numbers are dropping sharply-such as the shark, whale, and sea turtle-few marine animals are protected by law, and it is not difficult for aquariums to collect specimens. Since these then become the main selling points to attract visitors, particular attention is therefore devoted to how these precious creatures respond to their new environment.

Huang Chiang-hsiu, a professor in the Institute of Marine Biology at National Taiwan Ocean University, says that no matter what the type of sea life, despite the fact that in the aquarium they do not face natural enemies or pollution, still survival is not easy. The lack of space, deteriorating water quality, and the ease with which communicable diseases spread are all threats. Also, the "domestication" of fish can disrupt their life cycles. For example, migratory fish need to have a large amount of space, or this will impact on their normal life cycle.

Fang Lee-shing states that modern aquariums should put the welfare of the fish ahead of profits.

To this end, the NMMBA has established a "marine life experimental center" to further the practice of marine life husbandry. The center alone boasts 12,000 tons of water, or 14 times the volume in the entire Taipei Sea World, so that its breeding and care of marine life takes place on a scale difficult for other aquariums to match. Su Wei-chun, who has been working in the center for eight years, explains that all marine life that is to be displayed must undergo a kind of "orientation" at the center. Animals can only be placed in their exhibition tanks after eating and other behaviors are fully normalized, staff have extensive understanding of their habitats, and quarantine and immunization is complete.

To ensure strict control of fish husbandry technology, the center gained ISO 9002 certification. Now, even if some staff leave their jobs, new staff members can quickly adjust to the rigorously regulated procedures. Su Wei-chun says that, in comparison with aquariums in the past which had less than a 50% survival rate, the center has a survival rate of over 80%.

Su hopes that in the future the center can become the source of marine life for all aquariums in Taiwan. In this way, aquarium operators do not need to catch their own creatures at sea, which would reduce the strain on marine life.

Really live seafood

Ho Lin-tai, a researcher in the Preparatory Office of the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology, avers that the opening of new aquariums, each with its specialization, can lend structure to domestic academic marine research. Moreover, it can put this research to practical use, and also put the essence of this academic material into an easy-to-understand form so that people can have a deeper understanding of marine life.

Hsu Chung-kang says that the rise of aquariums can also help out Taiwan's large commercial aquaculture facilities, and reduce the failure rate in attempts to raise new kinds of seafood. He is saddened by the fact that Taiwan is surrounded on all sides by water, yet its citizens have little understanding of the sea. "Particularly now that marine pollution is serious, soon there will be virtually no fish for people to see. And destruction of coral from unrestricted diving is growing worse by the day. If citizens can come to understand the ocean through aquariums, this would be a much better choice." He considers a visit to an aquarium to be "a healthy recreational activity."

"Children can learn about and understand the lives and habits of all kinds of sea life here," says Huang Chiang-hsiu. Kids will discover that sea creatures are not just "seafood," but are vibrant living things. For example, sea animals have excellent hearing, and dolphins have a particularly acute sensitivity to certain frequencies of sound. Sharks can listen for sounds in the water to locate prey. And fish can see through sea water to a distance of about 10 meters, so they can watch you watch them.

Aquariums must also teach people how to appreciate aquariums themselves. During the NMMBA's trial opening, which fell on a three-day weekend, thousands of visitors came from all over, and some of the display areas were damaged (to the tune of over US$60,000). Also, because visitors did not respect the rules and knocked on the glass of the display tanks, some octopi died of shock after being repeatedly startled. At the Penghu aquarium, silver pomfret collided with each other and died because visitors pounded on the tanks.

Huang Chiang-hsiu says that aquariums should take these as lessons to teach visitors that knocking on the glass sends shock waves through the water, which not only disturbs the tranquility of the fish, but can even frighten them to death. Also, because there is relatively limited sunlight in sea water, most properly run aquariums keep their lighting low. If visitors use flash bulbs, this too will startle the marine life.

Join the conservationists

While state-run and private aquariums have different focal points, they have one thing in common: Both have joined the ranks of conservationists.

The Tung-Hsiao Educational Sea World, created out of a former beach recreation area, has a large hinterland and is right on the coast. In the last year it has cooperated on a number of occasions with the ROC Cetacean Society to rescue beached whales or dolphins. General manager Chang Yu-cheng says that the park provides a recovery pool for cetaceans, as well as specially designed stretchers for their rescue. Last September, the park rescued a spotted dolphin, which they named Hsiao Li, which had gone aground at the Pali commercial port. Unfortunately, after 15 days of efforts to save her, Hsiao Li died.

Chou Lien-siang, a professor of zoology at National Taiwan University and founder of the Taiwan Cetacean Stranding Network, notes that many cetaceans migrate through the waters around Taiwan, so these animals frequently are beached or accidentally caught in fishing nets. More specialized personnel and resources are needed to give shelter to injured cetaceans and to help them return to the sea. The Yehliu Ocean World, the NMMBA, and the Penghu Aquarium are among those in Taiwan who have joined the Network, and they act to collectively mobilize resources to rescue cetaceans which run aground anywhere on the island.

The Penghu Aquarium, because of its geographic position and superior facilities, has been able to establish a sea turtle rescue and research center. Nine 35-ton water tanks in the aquarium have held 40 sea turtles so far. The aquarium has also been engaged in a long-term project, advised by Chen Yi-chun, a professor at National Taiwan Ocean University, to release turtles once or twice a year into the wild and record their life histories. Such activities illustrate the aquarium's research and conservation functions.

Virtual aquarium

Besides reaching out to extend their functions into the wild, aquariums are also using the latest technology to achieve a "win-win situation" for man and the sea. "In the future, people will be able to walk on the ocean floor, and will not have to look at the ocean through a glass wall." What Fang Lee-shing is describing, it turns out, is "virtual reality." Fang says that in the virtual world, sea creatures need not evade the human presence, and through cutting-edge technology, people will be able to see marine life from places and times far removed from our own, such as the Jurassic period. Fang concludes, "While constantly innovating and changing, the bedrock concern of present-day aquariums must be the well-being of the ocean. We look forward to a better balance between human development and marine resources."

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Coral growth does not come easy. Uncontrolled diving and destructive fishing methods are destroying the coral at an increasing rate. Anthias squaspinnis (a type of grouper) swims among feather stars, and other coral types. It makes for a lovely marine landscape.

(photo courtesy of the NMMBA)

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The National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium is located in Houwan Village in Pingtung County. Its grounds include more than 1700 meters of coral reef. The NMMBA was placed near the water so as to let visitors get the feel of sea air. (courtesy of the NMMBA)

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You can often see different kinds of clown fish swimming among the sea anemones. Through the habitat tanks at the NMMBA you can gain a deeper understanding of the relationships among marine life. (courtesy of the NMMBA)

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Lion fish are frequent denizens of aquaria. They are distributed around southern Taiwan and its offshore islands. With their long dorsal fins, they never fail to impress people with their beauty.

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The bright red color and snow white appendages of the Lysmata debelius account for its popular name "shrimp with white socks." (courtesy of the Tung-Hsiao Educational Sea World)

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Feather stars come in a variety of colors. The creatures in aquaria can far exceed our imaginations. (courtesy of NMMBA)

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This is the largest habitat display area at the NMMBA. Under specially designed lighting, visitors feel far from any shore, creating a sense of the ocean's vastness.

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This nudibranch has "horns" in front and beautful coloring along its "skirt." Its fascinating form and hues have made it a popular draw at aquariums. (courtesy of NMMBA)

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Using flashbulbs causes fish to panic because it creates a sudden change in their environment; in their panic they can crash into one another, causing fatal injuries. Teaching children how to behave in an aquarium is an important task for parents.

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The experimental center at the NMMBA is the first stop for incoming sea life. Marine animals can only be put on display after their habits have normalized, their habitats are well understood, and they pose no risk of spreading disease.

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Besides displaying marine life, aquariums also create a framework for academic study and offer facilities for research.

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Aquariums have been more and more involved in conservation tasks. The Tung-Hsiao Educational Sea World's general manager Chang Yu-cheng is an especially strong advocate of rescue operations for distressed animals. This turtle, named Du-Du, was released into the wild in May of 1999. (courtesy of the THESW)

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The Taiwan Cetacean Stranding Network coordinates resources to quickly assist stranded cetaceans anywhere in Taiwan. (courtesy of the THESW)

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The whale models in the NMMBA's wading pool are especially lovely juxtaposed against children playing in the summer heat.