The recent cold weather has spelt disaster for both fisheries and coastal marine habitats. Marine experts say that "more than 300" varieties of fish, unable to tolerate the cold water temperatures, have been turning belly-up en masse near the outlying island of Penghu alone.
The Council of Agriculture estimated yesterday that the bulk of the economic damage has occurred at the cobia fisheries off the shores of Penghu, with the estimated damage in excess of NT$77 million (US$2.41 million).
The fish, a gourmet favorite, have perished in water temperatures as cold as 9oC over the past few days.
PHOTO: CHUANG YU-FENG, TAIPEI TIMES
"All the cobia in the water have essentially been wiped out," said Tsai Wann-sheng (蔡萬生), the director of the Penghu Fisheries Research Institute. "The damage has been devastating."
Tsai said 90 percent of the fish farmed near Penghu are cobia, a species that cannot tolerate sustained periods of water temperatures below 15oC.
Farmed fish are not the only ones to have fallen victim to the cold. Tsai said the impact to fish living near the coral reef off Penghu was the "worst in 30 years" after looking at historical data.
"The ocean typically offers a temperature buffer for marine fish," Tsai said. "But this year's unusual and sustained cold means that we haven't had a winter this bad since 1978. We are seeing dead fish everywhere, perhaps 300 species have been seriously affected by the cold."
Television footage from cable network TVBS showed Penghu residents in weather-resistant gear scooping groupers, eels and other valuable edible fish that have perished from the cold spell from the water to sell. Their full baskets of fish would fetch "a few thousand," the newscaster said.
Tsai said the one-time windfall could bring years of depleted fish stocks.
"I don't know how long the fish population will take to recover," Tsai said. "Stock will be low for at least a couple of years. In the worst case scenario, entire species could be wiped out from some areas. If this is the case, the rebuilding process will be very slow."
Elsewhere, cable network ETToday reported yesterday that an estimated 40 percent of the milk fish (虱目魚) crop in Yunlin County might also be lost to the cold weather.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS