Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) yesterday called on the central government to establish a special relief program for oyster farmers who suffered losses because of Typhoon Soudelor and to return fishing rights along the county’s coastline to local residents.
Only about 20 percent of the oyster farmers in the typhoon-ravaged county are eligible for disaster relief because the rest do not hold fishery rights along coastal regions that are zoned as industrial districts.
Soudelor proved to be the most devastating disaster for the county’s oyster culture in the past 10 years, Yunlin Fishermen’s Association official Tsai Wen-tung (蔡文東) said.
Tsai said that 90 percent of oyster farmers’ offshore floating rafts, 20 percent of horizontal racks and 30 percent of vertical racks were damaged during the storm, causing losses of NT$140 million (US$4.29 million), in addition to the NT$80 million in lost oysters.
Yunlin’s total agricultural losses have hit NT$510 million, and the Council of Agriculture has designated the county as eligible for cash relief.
However, Lee said that out of the 500 oyster farmers in the county, only about 100 hold fishing rights and are therefore eligible for relief measures.
Waters off the coasts of Kouhu (口湖), Sihu (西湖) and Taisi (台西) townships were traditionally oyster farming areas, but were zoned as offshore industrial areas in 1991, which severely restricts fishing and oyster farming in the area, Lee said.
Even though there has been no industrial development in the three townships for 11 years, the Industrial Development Bureau has refused to ease the restriction, thereby excluding most of the county’s oyster farmers from relief measures, Lee said.
“The central government is a dog in the manger because it has not developed the areas after they were designated for industrial use, but yet it refuses to deregulate the areas,” Lee said.
The Yunlin County Government called on the central government to return the sea to local residents, establish a special relief program for oyster farmers without fishing rights and deregulate undeveloped areas designated as industrial districts so that oyster farming in those areas can be legalized.
However, Fisheries Agency Deputy Director Huang Hung-yan (黃鴻燕) said that unauthorized oyster farming in Yunlin’s offshore industrial areas has been a longstanding problem, and oyster culture is legally prohibited in places designated for industrial use.
The redesignation of such areas or reopening of them to fishing rights would require discussions between the central and local governments, while the agency can only act according to the law.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS