The removal of a check dam from the Shei-pa National Park in 2011 has led to a dramatic increase in the population of the critically endangered Formosan landlocked salmon, a professor said yesterday.
The number of salmon has grown from fewer than 500 in 2001 to 5,400 this year, said National Chung Hsing University professor Lin Hsing-juh (林幸助), who started a 10-year project in 2004 with 20 other academics to monitor and research the fish.
The 15m by 3m Check Dam No. 1 of the Chichiawan Creek, one of 10 built on the river to reduce channel erosion and prevent sediment from filling a downstream reservoir, was torn down in May 2011.
The research team found that the dam left the fish vulnerable to big storms. When the creek was hit by a typhoon or flooding, the salmon would be flushed from their natural habitat in the creek’s upper reaches to points downstream, Lin said.
The cold-water fish would try to migrate upstream, but were prevented by the dam, leaving them to die in the warmer water of the creek’s lower reaches, Lin said.
During each major storm, one-third of the Formosan landlocked salmon in the region perished, he said.
The current salmon population has nearly reached the creek’s maximum capacity of 5,800 salmon, Lin said, but he added that the species is threatened by pollution caused by the production of high-mountain vegetables, fruit and tea grown nearby on Wuling Farm (武陵農場).
Nitrates in the fertilizers found in washed off soil pollute the creek and prevent the salmon from breathing, he said.
The species, a holdover from the last Ice Age, needs unpolluted waters to survive and is now found only in the country’s Cijiawan Creek (七家灣溪) and Gaoshan Creek (高山溪) in the upper reaches of the Dajia River (大甲溪).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
RSS