Eel farmers yesterday demanded that the Chinese-language China Times retract a recent story with an inflammatory headline or face legal action.
Fisheries agency officials who participated in a discussion with eel farmers' groups yesterday confirmed that the groups said they would sue the daily for a story published on Tuesday with the headline: "Fisheries agency warns: eels are poisonous," if a written retraction is not issued within three days.
In addition, eel farmers plan to stage a protest that will surround the China Times' head office if the paper refuses to back down, said Shih Sheng-lung (石聖龍), an official at the agency.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Test results released by the Fisheries Agency under the Council of Agriculture (COA) on Monday showed that eight aquaculture farms around the island were using banned additives, including seven eel farms. However, agency officials point out that only a tiny minority of aquaculture farms sampled tested positive for banned additives, with 99.88 percent of samples passing the test.
"We have had both more and less serious test results in the past that have been announced on our Web site," said Shih Sheng-lung, an official at the agency, "but it was not until the recent report of tainted aquaculture that the press started paying attention."
Shih said that the level of enrofloxacin found in the tainted eels, from 2.59 to 9.68 parts per billion, was not considered a serious health risk and could have resulted from environmental contamination rather than deliberate usage on the part of the farmers.
"The problem is the China Times improperly overemphasized the isolated cases of violation," said James Sha (沙志一), deputy director-general of the fisheries agency. "If this ends up hurting eel farmers, we will do what we can to aid them."
Meanwhile, Sha and Shih said that the COA had not agreed to demands made by eel farmers that the COA take out advertisements explaining the issue.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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