In a bid to further study the behavior of the endangered green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), a research team monitoring the species on Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球) off Pingtung County yesterday installed more satellite signal transmitters on the turtles to track their movements.
The team’s previous research has showed about 100 green sea turtles live in the island’s waters.
Liouciou Township Office last year commissioned the team, spearheaded by National Taiwan Ocean University professor Cheng Yi-chun (程一駿), to embark on a green sea turtle placement project, during which researchers installed transmitters on two female turtles, enabling the team to trace the turtles’ locations in the ocean after they laid eggs.
Photo: Chen Yen-ting, Taipei Times
The office this year obtained two more transmitters with subsidies from the Council of Agriculture.
The transmitters were installed on two turtles yesterday.
The information gathered from the project is to be used by central and local animal protection agencies for future policymaking.
Photo: Tsai Wen-tsai, Taipei Times
Turtles inhabit the island’s waters because of nearby coral reefs and during the egg-laying season, the females swim up to the shore, the office said.
This sets the island apart from other sea turtle habitats, making it an ideal ecosphere for the green turtle to raise their young.
Liouciou Township Mayor Tsai Tien-yu (蔡天裕) said that the green sea turtles lay their eggs every year between May and October. He said that statistics produced between 2011 and this year indicated that 12 females laid 60 nests of eggs along the island’s shore, each containing between 100 and 130 eggs.
The statistics showed that the female turtles laid as many as 6,000 eggs during this period, out of which about 4,800 made their way back to the ocean, with about 100 opting to make the island’s coastal waters their home.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost