The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday established a national task force, which will seek international assistance and strengthen domestic ecological conservation, to tackle the epidemic of botulism that has killed 66 rare black-faced spoonbills.
COA Chairman Lee Chin-lung (李金龍) was urged yesterday by legislators, conservationists, bird watchers and environmentalists to tackle more efficiently the recent deaths of the endangered birds, which winter at the Chiku Lagoon in Tainan County, every October to April.
At a closed-door meeting held at the COA yesterday, DPP Legislator Eugene Jao (趙永清) said a national-level task force was necessary because the possibility of receiving international assistance relied on the government's active involvement.
It is estimated the global population of the black-faced spoonbill does not exceed 1,000. According to Taiwanese bird watchers, 705 black-faced spoonbills have already been observed this winter in Taiwan. As of Dec. 24, however, 66 of them had died from C. botulinum poisoning.
Local authorities have asked for the COA's help because the lack of anti-C. botulinum serum resulted in a delay in rescuing sick spoonbills.
The COA, however, has yet to solved serum shortage.
Dismayed by the COA's limited efforts, Jao contacted Japanese experts at Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases and received a positive response.
"They are waiting for an official invitation from the government," Jao said.
According to Yang Jiao-yen (楊嬌豔), assistant to Jao, Motohide Takahashi (高橋原秀), a specialist at the institute, would like to offer related technologies.
In addition, Shunji Kozaki (
COA officials said yesterday they would contact the Japanese experts soon.
Although the Tainan County Government has called on volunteers to pick up dead fish and animals and dismantle oyster racks in an area covering 2,000 hectares since Dec. 22, the real factors that have been causing the environmental deterioration in the area that fueled the botulism outbreak remain uncertain.
Legislators had asked the COA to map the area in question and remove all the dead fish and animal corpses.
Legislators said that the COA should ask for help from the military or demand financial assistance from the Council of Labor Affairs for hiring workers for the temporary job.
At the meeting, ecological experts urged the COA to set up a standard operating procedure (SOP) for rescuing endangered species in Taiwan because the recent deaths of the black-faced spoonbills exposed the government's lack of preparation to deal with such an outbreak.
"In addition to environmental monitoring, the SOP should be able to offer guidelines regarding epidemic survey, treatment and control," said Charles Cheng (程建中), president of the Wild Bird Federation of Taiwan.
Chiau Wen-Yan (邱文彥), president of Wetlands Taiwan, said that he'd suggested that the agriculture council rezone the ecological reserve.
"The government should have let some fish farms near the lagoon close in winter and provide buffering zones to ensure sources of food for the endangered bird," Chiau said.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
Chinese embassy staffers attempted to interrupt an award ceremony of an international tea competition in France when the organizer introduced Taiwan and displayed the Republic of China flag, a Taiwanese tea farmer said in an interview published today. Hsieh Chung-lin (謝忠霖), chief executive of Juxin Tea Factory from Taichung's Lishan (梨山) area, on Dec. 2 attended the Teas of the World International Contest held at the Peruvian embassy in Paris. Hsieh was awarded a special prize for his Huagang Snow Source Tea by the nonprofit Agency for the Valorization of Agricultural Products (AVPA). During the ceremony, two Chinese embassy staffers in attendance
RSS