Four islets south of Penghu County are set to be designated on Sunday as Taiwan’s ninth national park, which will officially open in October, a Ministry of the Interior official said yesterday.
The new park, situated to the east of Wang-an (望安) and Cimei (七美) islands to the south of the Penghu islands, encompasses Dongji (東吉), Dongyuping (東嶼坪), Siji (西吉) and Siyuping (西嶼坪) islets, as well as their surrounding waters.
The park covers a land area of 370 hectares and a sea area of 354.73km2 in the Taiwan Strait. Its boundary overlaps with that of Taijiang National Park in southwestern Taiwan, according to data provided by the ministry.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Taipei Times
The official reported during a Cabinet meeting that the four islets in the park are composed mainly of ocean basalt and are characterized by a wide array of geological features, marine biodiversity and historical evidence of human habitation.
After the national park is inaugurated, the ministry will promote the conservation of resources in the park, including the preservation of traditional settlements, setting up environmentally friendly public service facilities, promoting education and protection of the marine environment and in-depth ecological tours, according to the official.
In addition, the ministry plans to devote efforts to protecting coral reefs and conserving marine resources in the waters of the park.
Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) said the Executive Yuan approved the application for the designation of the four islets as a national park on March 10 and was to ratify the designation on the World Oceans Day on Sunday.
“The park is to be officially established this October,” Chen added.
After listening to the briefing, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) directed the ministry’s Construction and Planning Agency to take measures regarding future operation and management of the park, including preserving natural resources, protecting the rights of local residents and promoting ecotourism.
Taiwan currently has eight national parks: Pingtung County’s Kenting National Park, Kinmen County’s Kinmen National Park, Miaoli County’s Shei-Pa National Park, Hualien County’s Taroko National Park, Taipei City’s Yangmingshan National Park, Nantou County’s Yushan National Park, Greater Kaohsiung’s Dongsha Marine National Park, and Greater Tainan’s Taijiang National Park.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS