Taiwanese and Chinese conservationists are joining hands to save an endangered sea bird from extinction by urging fishermen to stop collecting and eating the birds' eggs, a Taiwanese birdwatcher said yesterday.
The Chinese crested tern -- white with a black-and-white crest -- migrates to the eastern Chinese coast between May and September, Taiwanese conservationists say. It's thought the birds fly there to escape the heat in South Asia, although they have not been seen outside of China or Taiwan.
The sea bird was spotted for the first time in 2000 on Matsu island -- just 1km from China's southeastern coast. Matsu authorities have since stepped up monitoring the bird and set aside several locations on the island group as sanctuaries.
Taiwanese have stopped eating sea birds' eggs in recent years, but Chinese fishermen often sneak onto Matsu to collect the eggs, which are prized as a delicacy, said Chang Shou-hua (張壽華), director general of the Matsu Wild Bird Society.
"Sea birds' eggs are smelly and infected with parasites, and when fishermen collect the eggs in the grass they disrupt the birds' breeding habitats," Chang said.
A Chinese survey conducted over recent successive breeding seasons found that the number of crested terns had fallen to 50 birds, about half the population found three years ago, according to Birdlife International, a conservation group based in Cambridge, England. The group warns that the crested tern could become extinct in 5 years if protection efforts are not stepped up.
Taiwanese birders recently sought to collaborate with Chinese conservationists after learning the bird has appeared along the coasts of China's Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, said Chang.
A group of conservationists from the Jiushan islands off eastern China visited the Matsu sanctuary two months ago and agreed to strive for the bird's preservation, first by seeking legislation to bar fishermen from collecting the bird's eggs, Chang said.
The Chinese and Taiwanese have also agreed to begin a joint survey next summer -- during the birds' migration period -- to determine the size of their population, he said.
Taiwanese conservationists are studying whether to use global positioning systems to track down the sea bird's mysterious migration routes, Chang said.
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