The Lost Sea
The fate of horseshoe crabs, a 200-million-year-old species, today clearly rests with humans--a species less than one in a thousand their own age. The ideological impasse between Nationalists on Taiwan and Communists on Mainland China during much of latter twentieth century imposed more than 4 decades of martial rule on front line islands such as Kin-men. Kin-men's martial controls during this period decisively saved the horseshoe crab habitats and preserved the synergy between Kin-men fishermen and their sea. Today, the former enemies are now business partner and Kin-men is being retooled for tourism and investment. But at what cost to Kin-men's ancient horseshoe crabs, its rich fishing grounds, and its people?
