You can also file a discrimination lawsuit with the MOI as residents and citizens can expect to have the same privileges.
Those are āwish stonesā, considered lucky to find and good luck to carry/keep. 
Went to the Xindian River bank the other day and picked up some interesting stones. That canāt be illegal, can it?
I guess in Hualien, the driftwood is all available for the taking, at least at the beaches in the city and at least from what my wifeās family says. I did see several small trucks parked to collect driftwood so maybe itās true.
I thought exactly that the govt. wanted to prevent. Small-blue truck commercial exploitation operations. Individuals picking up a pebble or to should be allowed in my humble opinion.
I might be completely wrong. My wife were at the beach close to the port in Hualien. My wife picked up a couple of pieces of driftwood and I told her to be careful about that. She told me it has been cleared and pointed to people in the distance with small trucks parked close to where they were walking around.
Again, I might be wrong, but I can understand if you are now allowed to pick up driftwood because that beach was completely full of the wood. Literally all over the place starting at around 30 meters from the water.
Itās not legal without a permit in most cases
Eastern Taiwan officials warn public about collecting typhoon driftwood
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/5964226
Picking up driftwood in some areas no longer crime in Taiwan
Scavenging driftwood in state forests still banned, warns Forestry Bureau
Not the last typhoon but the one before it, there was so much driftwood they were pushing it into piles and burning it. On the east coast.
In Dulan, the local govāt will send out a text when itās freeforall time. But the local folks have first crack-- it is their magic wood by right.
How about the rocks and shells? I love searching for unique ones. When I was little we would go to the beach, in Denmark, and try to find stones that had little loose stones inside. We shook a lot of them trying to find the ones making a sound. Can you find those stones in Taiwan too, I wonder.
The old farts hunt for āprecious stonesā on the beach here after typhoons. No idea what theyāre after.
Probably rose stones?
Possibly, all I got out of them when I asked what they were after, was āDzou shr-tou,ā and that they were āSpecial.ā I guy showed me one but i forget the color. Not jade, so maybe.
[!quote] taiwannews.com.tw
The public is allowed to collect certain types of driftwood along beaches in Taitung.
Only driftwood that meets specific criteria may be collected. It must be uncut, weigh less than 50 kg per piece, and bear no government markings or stamps.
Eligible wood must also have a diameter under 20 cm and be shorter than 2 m. The use of machinery or cutting tools is prohibited, so collection must be done by hand.
Itās the thing taught to kids in North American schools basiclaly: If you take one, fine. But if everyone takes oneā¦not fine. Itās a lesson on not being selfish and understanding a larger norm based on a situation far larger than the individual.
Itās basically about scalability. On scale it becomes an issue. Hose baskets photographed above were I stalled during Ex President Mas opening up of Chinese tourism. Many of such photos are from east coast beaches that have pretty rocks, like the 3 immortals park with their rounded rocks. They have cameras installed as wee. For over a decade. I remember the volcanic eruption that brought in loads of pumice like rocks all along the coastline. Tons of people were filling bags. But in normal times taking the native stones, wood, animals, ants etc it is getting far more strict. The laws existed before, but the enforcement is slowly catching up.
There is also the deeper issue of incredibly rare woods and minerals people will intentionally either send down river or dig under into the river beds. This is super common here. So much so the police have officers scouring the river beds after major storm events and the excavators (normally 3rd party companies hired to dredge) digging such logs and large stones underground for further removal when the police are asleep. Even after the police have marked them.
The only real difference now is 24 hour surveillance, GPS markers, tags, and in some areas nearly daily air plane or drone fly by. Especially large precious logs for examle they may also insert tracking devoces to try and follow the people. With things like precious woods, they will even DNA test the wood that is confiscated with various places up in the mountains. Something the mountain rats are very well aware of and can circumvent fairly easy via digging rsther than cutting as a basic example. But it becomes a cost: benefiāøt ratio at that point. Either way, itās going to come down to if they want to catch you. Taiwna basically doesnāt care. They are Watchung the guys taking 10 million dollar logs, not a hippie in dulan making a driftwood wall for their Cafe. Itās a completely different thing and the police are busier with more important criminals, less so parents having a bonfire with their kids on Saturday night.
I would look at it like that. But be pragmatic of where as well. The Taitung folks know well that after a while with the mass drift wood sections, once all the expensive woods are pulled out (excavators are parked there pretty much 365days a year), they torch the whole thing and what for new stuff. Even right by massive factories. Itās wild. Canāt be legal, yetā¦predictable.
Thing is, itās never going to be āeveryone takes oneā. How many people, I mean hobby collectors, are interested in taking pebbles from the beaches and how many pebbles are there? And even if one percent of all pebbles would be taken away, what negative impact would that have on the coastline? None. Zero. Zilch.
Sure, if we are talking about people driving their blue trucks down the beach, we donāt want that. I am thinking about families on vacation walking on a beach in search for some cool stones.
Driftwood is something else. I just want to be allowed to collect a few stone, shell, weathered glass, etc. and for my window sill and maybe home art projects.
I suppose the main thing with that education style is more related to biological things. Sea shells are a big one as hermit crabs etc dont have a home. Think shell vendors. But I would insist even for certain rock types, they arenāt in abundance. Once enough people, letās say 10 million, just take oneā¦the beach cna be seriously depleted. This is the effect of scale I was trying to convey. It may not matter to some, but it does matter to some others. One of those things: 2 wrongs donāt make a right. Even if we are less bad/greedy. Probably some knowledge in what is fine and what isnāt goes a long way as well.
With the scalability of say 10 million people picking a stone, they also post pictures, talk, gossip, display and so on and this can easily become a market. Scale then extrapolation. Might not happen everytime with every species of animal, plant or mineral. But it happens a lot, so the laws do make sense in my opinion. Not enough enforcement in my opinion.
Itās a stretch kn soil erosion, but thatās also a serious issue in Taiwan. And people plucking trinkets from the beaches have caused actual erosion. I guess the flip side is the government is also complicit in completely destroying the mangroves and natural boundaries for infrastructure. Both sides are wrong, but I feel protecting these types of places is right, moving forward.
A fun aside. One of the pics above is the 3 immortals park. Where famously people pick rocks. Or other things (I see puffer fish every time I am there). Itās a well known, famously so, sea snake Hotspot. And so on. I am happy they leave it open, the bathrooms arenāt locked, 24/7. ,can car camp overnight etc etc. I hope we donāt abuse that freedom so much that they just close the place to the public after hours.
Just south of there, just barely north of the green island ferry port there is a campground. They have a little walkway with signs and shells trying to teach people about leaving shells, not taking them away, for the hermit crabs (very much kid oriented, thatās how I noticed itā¦my kiddo loves showing me this spot!). Thisbis the geopark spot.
Now, being fully taiwanese, I see excavators there after every storm taking away various wood species lol. So itās a bit ironic. But, Iām the sense of step by step, the right
Here is my little mountain kiddo playing with wood at that exact spot where the factory brings in excavators after storms to collect the good stuff then sets the beach on fire after to make collecting easier after
We didnāt keep any wood, just played baseball with sticks and rocks haha. There are cameras.
Ps. I drive a blue truck. Backed up on the beach. With kiddo. But we donāt poach animals or take treasures. Just relax on the flatbed and watch the sunset. Play around, observe everything, take nothing (well, we take garbage back if we have bags handy). Then leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but photos. Or however that saying goes 
playing star wars lightsaber eh
no need for sticks
they sell them in disney a plastic retractable saber. nice sounds too and safer
Haha. Thatās my black out sketch on the phone, does look like a cape though.
But, no. We were just using sticks to hit rocks, doing that beach baseball thing. Enjoying the waves, the sunset, the nature. To be honest, I feel a little teary eyed. These memories are so amazing with ones kiddo, before she gets full teenage boyfriends level worry haha. And we didnāt need to take a damn thing from the beach. At least that beach haha. Post typhoon, I get the beach clearing.
2 sides to every coin. Not saying I am right, but I doubt I am wrong haha.