The continued discharge of untreated sewage into the waters off Kenting National Park is responsible for the deterioration of the coral reefs in the area, an academic said on Monday.
Lin Hsing-juh (林幸助), a professor at National Chung Hsing University’s Department of Life Sciences, came to the conclusion after monitoring and studying coral reef ecosystems off the nation’s southernmost tip for more than a decade.
His findings were published recently in the journal Limnology and Oceanography.
Lin said for coral reefs to thrive, they must grow in clean shallow water with a low density of anthropogenic nutrients, a stable density of salt, moderate temperature and bright sunshine.
Human encroachment in the form of excessive development and the arrival of 4 million tourists a year in the Kenting area has led to an increase in the amount of sewage in Kenting’s coastal regions, Lin said.
Lin found that Kenting’s Nanwan (南灣) and Wanlitung (萬里桐), which boast the largest concentration of tourists, have suffered the most serious entrophication, or nutrient pollution.
To facilitate his study, Lin established a mesocosm — a controlled ecosystem approximating natural conditions — to conduct extensive observations and experiments and to verify his findings.
“Outdoor field surveys can only observe the results of coral reef deterioration; they provide no clues as to the processes and causes of the degeneration,” Lin said.
With the assistance of the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Pingtung County, Lin built a mesocosm — the first of its kind in the world — that replicated the coral reef ecosystem in Nanwan 20 years ago when there was less human activity. After 10 years of observation, simulations and experiments, Lin reached the conclusion that untreated sewage was to blame for the deterioration of the Kenting coral reef ecosystem.
To replicate the pollution in the area, Lin introduced sewage or anthropogenic (human-made) nutrients into the mesocosm at a rate of 5.5mmol per square meter. Mmol, or a millimole, is a unit measuring the amount of a substance.
“It turned out that algae grew rapidly and completely covered the coral, resulting in their death,” Lin said.
He also observed that normally passive sea anemones also began to attack the coral following the introduction of the sewage.
Overfishing, particularly of fish species that can stem the growth of algae and sea anemones, has led to a further imbalance in Kenting’s ecosystem, Lin said.
Coral reefs are natural habitats for more than 25 percent of marine life and fish output from the reefs accounts for 12 percent of the global fish catch, Lin said, adding that conservation of natural coral reef ecosystems was therefore essential.
Coral reefs are also important because they help protect the coastline, minimize beach erosion caused by big waves and tsunamis, and nurture coastal fishery resources, he said.
Lin said the most urgent task was to prevent the excessive flow of sewage or anthropogenic contaminants into the ocean and to step up efforts to conserve coral reefs and fish species.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,