Much to the delight of local preservationists, efforts to establish a second natural breeding ground for the endangered Formosan landlocked salmon have met success, Shei-Pa National Park Administration said.
Liao Lin-yen (廖林彥), director of the park’s Wuling Formosan Landlocked Salmon Conservation Center, said that after it released 250 Formosan landlocked salmon bred in captivity into the Luoyewei Stream (羅葉尾溪) and Sijielan Stream (司界蘭溪) last June, 28 salmon had been spawned.
SPAWNING GROUNDS
“We have found eight spawning grounds along the Luoyewei Stream and four spawning grounds in the Sijielan Stream,” he said. “A total of 28 fish have so far been spawned.”
The discovery indicates that captive-bred rare salmon can naturally breed after being released into the wild, Liao said, adding that the center has spent about 17 years to achieve this goal.
Encouraged by the results, Liao said, the park administration is scheduled to release up to 1,000 salmon parr in both streams on May 22 in hopes of establishing them as a second natural habitat for the Formosan landlocked salmon — a holdover from the last Ice Age and considered one of Taiwan’s national treasures — within five years.
TRADITIONAL HABITAT
Work by the conservation center has also boosted the number of Formosan landlocked salmon in the Cijiawan Creek (七家灣溪) — its traditional habitat — from slightly more than 200 in 1995 to more than 4,000 now.
The conservation center has not released captive-bred salmon parr in the river since 2006 and has instead launched a “take young salmon home” program, Liao said.
Under the project, Liao said, the center set up a “species bank” for the Formosan landlocked salmon and began releasing salmon fry into streams where the species had been found in the past.
DIFFICULTIES
Initially, the program achieved little success, Liao said.
The center released 1,500 salmon parr into three streams near the Cijiawan Creek four years ago, but most of them were washed away during typhoons before they could spawn.
A field survey found that larger volumes of water brought by typhoons as a result of global warming were having a negative impact on the species’ breeding, Liao said.
“We then decided to release salmon parr into other branches of the creek that are linked to deeper ponds and have more stable water flow,” Liao said, adding that this new approach had paid off.
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
RSS