The Taiwan chapter of a Chinese non-profit environmental protection group donated NT$2.1 million (US$65,400) yesterday to the Taiwan Environmental Information Association (TEIA) to fund a survey of coral reefs and a squid conservation project.
George Chen (陳田文), head of the Taiwan chapter of the China-based Society of Entrepreneur Ecology (SEE) and chairman Capital Securities in Taipei, presented the money raised from SEE members in Taiwan and China at a press conference to mark the chapter’s establishment.
Chen said the seas around Taiwan are home to abundant and diverse marine life, but long-term public ignorance of marine ecology and heavy pollution has caused a rapid depletion of many local marine populations and had put the survival of coral reefs and marine life under threat.
“Our ocean resources are becoming increasingly exhausted and the world under the surface of the ocean is gradually becoming a silent ocean desert that threatens coral reefs and marine life,” said Chen, a keen scuba diver.
Taking squid as an example, Chen said some species live around coral reefs, but as a result of over-exploitation, pollution and drastic climate change, the coral has declined to the extent that the squid now lay their eggs mainly in discarded fishing nets or garbage.
He expressed hope that the sponsorship program would arouse public awareness of the importance of marine life protection and help restore the marine ecosystem.
TEIA secretary-general Chen Rui-bin (陳瑞賓) said Taiwan’s coral reefs are in decline and he hopes more people will take action to protect the marine environment.
Kuo Dao-jen (郭道仁), who is responsible for carrying out the squid conservation program, said he has more than 30 years diving experience and a good understanding of the species. He expressed his fear that there will be nowhere for the squid to spawn within 10 years.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching