In response to World Fish Migration Day, the 9th River Management Office of the Water Resources Agency held the "Hara Goes Home Ecological Picture Book" book release and the "Water-Rice-Bie River Documentary" premiere on the 19th at the Tianciliangyuan Rural Experimental Base in Fuli Township, Hualien County. The meeting was attended by partners in the Bie River Basin Management Platform - Hualien Branch of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, Hualien Branch of The Society of Wilderness, Fengnan Community Development Association, Yongfeng Community Development Association, Jilamidai Tribal Cultural Industry Association and Kang-Cheng Liu, principal of Fuli Elementary School, Tung-Fang Huang, principal of Mingli Elementary School, Yu-Cheng Wu, principal of Yongfeng Elementary School, Hsing-Yang Lai, principal of Xuetian Elementary School along the Bie River basin.
The representative creature of the Siouguluan River migration is the Sicyopterus japonicus. It is called Hara in the Ami language, which means "fish with suction cups." Its fry starts their migratory journey from the mouth of the river every spring and travels all the way up to the upper reaches of the Bie River, a tributary of the Siouguluan River, called Ciharaay, which is also their final destination.
The 9th River Management Office Commissioner Ming-Chang Hsieh pointed out that in order for Hara to find their way home, the 9th River Management Office has set up a Bie River basin management platform, whose scope covers the entire river basin, in 2019 and it is the first in Taiwan to do so. All relevant government departments, local people, NGOs, experts and scholars were invited to take stock of the problems and challenges in achieving the river basin vision and goals through cross-area learning, consensus building, information sharing and public-private collaboration. Through the concept of returning land to the river, rock to river, water to river, fish to river, construction-undoing project and the treatment planning of preserving habitat, a short and medium-term plan for the restoration of the Bie River was proposed. The healing power of nature and rivers is activated as we work together for the goal of restoring the vitality of the Bie River.
Commissioner Ming-Chang Hsieh further said that this picture book is a record of the experience and process of restoring the vitality of the river in the past three years from 2019 with the cooperation of the 9th River Management Office, the local tribal residents and the relevant government agencies and units in the Bie River. Through the "four returns" of returning rocks to the river, water to the river, land to the river and fish to the river, the Bie River has been restored as a case of coexistence with nature. It has allowed the whole river basin management and the combination of the blue and green seam of the national green network philosophy to take root. It is hoped that the small step taken by the partners of the river basin management platform for the Bie River can become a big step in restoring the vitality of Taiwan's rivers.
In addition to inviting the team that edited the ecological picture book and filmed the documentary to share their overall ideas and creative process, the launch also invited the local consultant, Chen-Yueh Chang, who is the head of Houshancaifeng Studio and has long been involved in the restoration of Bie River to give a personal account of his journey in developing and producing the temporary fish passage. Kang-Cheng Liu, the principal of Fuli Elementary School, who is actively involved in the river school curriculum editing said that the Bie River picture book incorporates the ecology of the river's flora and fauna, environmental education issues, and other knowledge, allowing students to have a deeper understanding and discussion with the "Bie River" that nurtures the land. The principal of Mingli Elementary School, Tung-Fang Huang, said that the Bie River picture book teaches and entertains, presents the beauty of the local hometown, and inspires the children to return to their hometown to start their careers when they grow up. The principal of Yongfeng Elementary School, Yu-Cheng Wu, said that the ecological environment of Bie River has become a teaching material for schools. This picture book is written in both Mandarin and the Ami language, which is the perfect teaching material for the Amis Experimental School in Yongfeng Elementary School. Principal Hsing-Yang Lai of Yongfeng Elementary School said the picture book depicts the small Hara overcoming difficulties and migrating upstream from birth, which is full of ambition and courage and is the best inspirational teaching material for students. The principals who attended the event also hoped that future picture books would be turned into audiobooks and interactive animated games for more extensive promotion.
"World Fish Migration Day is an initiative of the World Fish Migration Foundation to raise public awareness of the importance of restoring river ecosystems and migratory fish passage. Held every two years since 2014, this day is a call to attention for the restoration of migratory fish passage and a day to pay homage to free-flowing rivers. Migration is a phenomenon in the life cycle of certain fish species that migrate on a large scale from their native habitat for feeding or breeding purposes, ranging from daily to annual or even longer cycles of a few meters to tens of thousands of kilometers.
At the end of the event, the 9th River Management Office presented ecological picture books to the elementary schools along the Siouguluan River basin. It is hoped that they would provide teachers and students of elementary schools with materials to promote environmental education through easy-to-understand, illustrated and textual presentations and that when used in parent-child reading, people can understand the environment and ecology of rivers and thus care for rivers and the environment. (If you are interested, you can also scan the QR code or search the Facebook page of the 9th River Management Office to download the electronic file of the picture book.)