The local shipping agent for the Iranian container ship Sarvin yesterday handed over a check for NT$1.5 million (US$51,150) to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to cover a fine for the illegal discharge of waste fuel off the coast of Kaohsiung in October last year.
One of the EU’s Sentinel-1 satellites captured images of a ship at 5:52am on Oct. 9 that seemed to be discharging waste fuel off the coast of Kaohsiung, EPA officials said yesterday, adding that the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was asked to help interpret the image.
The NOAA has been helping monitor marine traffic around Taiwan since 2013, when it signed the Establishing Satellite-Based Marine Oil Monitoring Collaborative Activity agreement with National Central University’s Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Harbor and Marine Technology Center also helped identify the ship through its automatic identification system.
Judging from the satellite image, the ship discharged about 5 tonnes of waste oil for at least two or three hours, leaving a pollution track that was almost 60km long, Department of Water Quality Protection Deputy Director-General Liu Jui-hsiang (劉瑞祥) said.
Despite the scope of the pollution, it did not require much clean-up work, as the pollutants had been carried away by fast-moving currents and evaporated, a one-week monitoring mission determined, Liu said.
The EPA decided to fine the ship’s owner NT$1.5 million for contravening Article 29 of the Marine Pollution Control Act (海洋污染防治法), but officials spent months trying to track down the owner, he said.
After learning the ship would arrive at the Port of Kaohsiung yesterday morning, the EPA called a meeting with Coast Guard Administration and ministry officials to organize an inspection visit once the ship was moored, he said.
The Taiwanese agent for the ship handed over the check at a meeting in Kaohsiung with EPA and other officials, Liu added.
The ship’s corporate executives must also attend an eight-hour session on protecting the environment, the EPA said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS