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 Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS