Working Together to Create a Home for Sea Turtles: Penghu Plans to Launch a “Sea Turtle Conservation Eco-Tour”

▲ Juvenile green sea turtle at the Wang’an Green Sea Turtle Tourism and Conservation Center (Photo provided by the Wang’an Green Sea Turtle Tourism and Conservation Center)

Reported by Tourism Center / Comprehensive Reporting

Last year, three juvenile green sea turtles were rescued in Wang’an, Penghu, with plans to release them back into the sea this summer. Magistrate Chen Kuang-fu stated: “The waters around Penghu see injured or sick sea turtles stranded every year, and the Penghu County Government has already developed effective rescue and care procedures. If we can provide educational conservation outreach during their healing and recuperation period—without disturbing the turtles—and integrate conservation awareness into tourism activities, we can eventually establish sea turtles as a brand of eco-tourism in Penghu.”

On the 22nd, Professor Cheng I-chun from the Institute of Marine Biology at National Taiwan Ocean University proposed to Penghu Magistrate Chen Kuang-fu the implementation of a “Sea Turtle Conservation Eco-Tour.” He emphasized that combining sea turtles with tourism is absolutely feasible. Professor Cheng also suggested that the Penghu County Government collaborate with local cultural and historical experts to develop distinctive tourism activities that blend the ocean with human culture, working together for the advancement of marine tourism and ecological conservation.