Greenpeace Taipei used a hot-air balloon to draw attention to marine conservation yesterday, in advance of a Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting.
“The hot-air balloon is here to tell people of the urgent need for changes in the way we manage Pacific fisheries at this year’s meeting in Guam,” said Yen Ning (顏寧), the group’s oceans campaigner.
Although the environmental -activist group was not able to release the balloon because of strong winds, the event still drew a lot of attention.
Photo: EPA
Yen accused the government of a lukewarm response to appeals from environmental groups for a more aggressive approach toward oceans conservation. Since Taiwan has one of the world’s largest and least regulated fishing fleets, she said, it should be held responsible for protecting the Pacific Commons, which are being overfished.
Yen also urged the Fisheries Agency to support the closing off of other ocean areas and the establishment of conservation zones to protect endangered fish species.
To build up awareness ahead of the meeting, she added, the organization’s ship, MV Esperanza, will arrive in Kaohsiung Harbor on March 23, three days before the talks begin.
Fisheries Agency Deputy -Director-General Tsay Tzu-yaw (蔡日耀) said on Friday that the agency was fully aware of the need for sustainable fishing and was prepared to discuss the issue with member countries “if the issue was brought up at the meeting.”
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
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