Taiwan will ban fishing of whale sharks, the largest living fish species, starting next year, the Fisheries Administration under the Council of Agriculture (COA) announced on Friday.
Fisheries Administration Director Hsieh Ta-wen (謝大文) said the year's quota of 30 whale sharks was reached on March 27 and that no more fishing would be allowed from March 27 until December 31.
Any stockpiled whale shark meat must be sold within three months, meaning that from June 27, no more selling of whale shark meat will be allowed.
Starting from next year, the fishing, selling, importing and exporting of whale sharks will be banned completely, he said.
The whale shark, the gentle giant of the ocean, is found in tropical oceans and lives in the open sea. The species is called the "tofu shark" locally because its delicate meat is purported to taste like tofu.
The shark, believed to have originated about 60 million years ago, can grow up to 20m in length and can weigh up to 30 tonnes. It is considered a delicacy in many Southeast Asian countries.
Hsieh said 12 out of this year's 30 whale sharks were caught in fixed nets and were released. The Fisheries Administration has also presented NT$3.47 million (US$104,000) in cash to fishermen for their cooperation in releasing the fish.
The released sharks were fitted with satellite tracking devices to help monitor their migration routes and provide more information about their ecology.
If more whale sharks are accidentally trapped in the fixed nets, Hsieh instructed fishermen to report the catch immediately and apply for a cash reward for not killing them. Such sharks will also be fitted with satellite tracking devices.
Fisheries officials also noted that two whale sharks accidentally caught off Hualien will be sent to an aquarium in the state of Georgia in the US early next month for educational, research and display purposes.
The aquarium purchased two whale sharks from Taiwan in 2005 and last year, but one of them died earlier this year of peritonitis.
Meanwhile, fishermen in three counties who mainly fish for whale sharks were disgruntled about the government ban, disputing expert opinion that the great fish is on the brink of extinction and complaining that a complete ban would jeopardize their livelihoods.
They said that the annual quota has continued to dwindle from 80 in the past to 60 last year and 30 this year in the face of global outrage over the continuing fishing of the endangered species.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS