Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee in 2012, received widespread acclaim from movie fans around the world. Besides being named one of the ten best movies of the year by Time Magazine, it won four Academy Awards at the 85th Oscars, including Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Visual Effects. It was Ang Lee's marking his second Oscar for Best Director, following his win for Brokeback Mountain, making him the pride of Taiwan under the international spotlight.

In Life of Pi, the teenage Pi encounters a fierce storm at sea while on a Japanese cargo ship with his family. All the people on the ship do not survive the unfortunate disaster. Only Pi and a Bengal tiger (Richard Parker) ultimately survived, and the rest of the story unfolds.

From Cinema Lenses to the Fishery Cycle in Donggang

The movie opens with a mirror-like, calm sea surface, but a stark, dramatic contrast has yet to be revealed. The zebra, hyena, and orangutan kill each other on the lifeboat, leaving only Pi and the Bengal tiger alive. They confront and fight each other, but also float and survive together on the sea. Exhausted after a long confrontation, they lie on the boat and gaze into the starry night sky, occasionally watching the flowing Milky Way and nebulae in the blue sea. Later, a school of flying fish starts jumping out of the water until a huge tuna hits the boat, and the intense scene ends.

In the film, the flowing Milky Way in the sea is, in fact, the underwater swimming trail of tiny shrimps. It results from the shrimps' bioluminescence under starlight. The sequence of tiny shrimps, small fish, and large fish showing up in the film reflects the marine ecological chain and also mirrors the natural rhythm of catching different types of fish in the waters of Donggang, Pingtung, across different seasons (winter, spring, and summer).

Donggang's Commitment to Sustainability: Balancing Fishing Culture and Conservation

Fishing activities in the waters of Donggang follow its natural rhythm: catching grey mullets from October to January, eels in winter (November to February), Sakura shrimps from November to May, the smaller Taiwan maoxia shrimps from the Qingming Festival (early April) to the Dragon Boat Festival (fifth day of the fifth lunar month, typically in June), and an abundance of tuna in spring (April to June). This marine ecosystem, which aligns with the natural cycle, deeply resonates with the marine ecological implications in Life of Pi.

Sakura shrimps, one of the three treasures of Donggang, are a classic local delicacy. However, to ensure sustainable resources for fisheries, the Donggang District Fishermen’s Association has imposed a fishing ban. (Photo credit: Han-Yuan Chen)
Sakura shrimps, one of the three treasures of Donggang, are a classic local delicacy. However, to ensure sustainable resources for fisheries, the Donggang District Fishermen's Association has imposed a fishing ban. (Photo credit: Han-Yuan Chen)

Alongside bluefin tuna and oilfish roe, sakura shrimps once enjoyed a high reputation as one of the three treasures of Donggang. With a color as lovely as sakura blossoms, sakura shrimps are a key ingredient in many classic Taiwanese dishes, such as stir-fried cabbage with sakura shrimps, steamed glutinous rice with sakura shrimps, or sakura shrimp fried rice with swordfish meat floss. However, sakura shrimps can only be found in abundance in a few waters, including Suruga Bay in Japan, Donggang in Taiwan, and Toucheng in Yilan, Taiwan.

Shrimps play an important role as fish bait in the ecological chain. To ensure a sustainable marine ecology, the Donggang District Fishermen's Association (the Association) formulated a covenant regulating the operation of the Sakura Shrimp Fishing and Marketing Group (the Group). It aims to refine the Group's organization and systems, grow the sakura shrimp fishing industry in Taiwan, and achieve steady, long-term industrial development. From June 1 to October 31 each year, a ban on catching juvenile sakura shrimps is in effect. No members of the Group are allowed to catch sakura shrimps during the period. If found to have breached the ban, the violator will be investigated and punished by the Pingtung County Government and fined by the Group. Similarly, the Association also enforces regulations on the catching of Taiwan maoxia shrimps. Thanks to these regulations, sakura shrimps and Taiwan maoxia shrimps can continue to live and reproduce sustainably in the ocean, helping maintain an interconnected marine ecosystem where large fish eat smaller fish, and small fish eat tiny shrimps.

Fishing boats berthed at the port during the fishing ban in Donggang. Fishermen take this chance to fix their nets. (Photo credit: Han-Yuan Chen)
Fishing boats berthed at the port during the fishing ban in Donggang. Fishermen take this chance to fix their nets. (Photo credit: Han-Yuan Chen)

Donggang's Marine Sustainability Through the Lens of the Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival

The annual Pingtung Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival, held in Donggang Township, Pingtung County, from May to July, is an approach to promote local culture and tourism through bluefin tuna culture and cuisine. According to statistics from the Fisheries Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, prepared under the Regulations on the Management of Pacific Bluefin Tuna Fishing Operations, Taiwan caught 11,500 bluefin tuna in 2025 (data as of June 2025), totaling 2,300 tons, slightly above the annual limit of 2,200 tons. Therefore, with the aim of ensuring sustainable marine resources, the Fisheries Agency announced that it would terminate bluefin tuna fishing activities for the year earlier than planned, on June 8.

The Pingtung Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival, held every May, is the most iconic marine event in Donggang. People gather at the port when the first bluefin tuna is brought ashore. (Photo credit: Han-Yuan Chen)
The Pingtung Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival, held every May, is the most iconic marine event in Donggang. People gather at the port when the first bluefin tuna is brought ashore. (Photo credit: Han-Yuan Chen)

While the lively Pingtung Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival promotes enjoying bluefin tuna cuisine across Taiwan every May, the association and fishermen strictly follow policies on catching bluefin tuna, sakura shrimps, and Taiwan maoxia shrimps, ultimately supporting sustainable marine ecological conservation. This effort not only aligns with the 14th goal (conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development) of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations in 2015 to guide the world toward sustainable development by 2030, but it also echoes the idea of sustainable ecology in the "Yishang" chapter of The Annals of Master Lü Buwei, written in 241 B.C.E., which states, "If you dry up the marshes to fish, how could you not catch something? But the next year there will be no fish," warning that over-fishing will deplete resources.