Coast Guard Administration (CGA) vessels early yesterday chased off about 100 Chinese fishing boats suspected of poaching in Taiwan’s territorial waters near Kinmen.
The agency’s Kinmen branch said that it dispatched three patrol vessels to an area where radar information showed that a fleet of about 100 Chinese boats had converged, apparently to catch yellow croaker, a small fish that usually fetches a high price this time of the year.
It is common for Chinese fishing vessels to trespass in territorial waters near Kinmen around the Mid-Autumn Festival to illegally fish for yellow croaker, Kinmen coast guard officers said.
Chinese fishermen tried to take advantage of the land and sea warnings that were issued on Sunday for Typhoon Dujuan, the officers said.
Under the rules of the Maritime Patrol Directorate-General, Chinese vessels trespassing in Taiwan’s waters are to be dispersed or detained, and detained vessels and any equipment onboard can be confiscated and their operators fined.
Coast guard officers in Kinmen said that 54 Chinese vessels have been dispersed and 31 detained in the outlying island so far this year.
They said that a total of NT$2.5 million (NT$75,093) in fines have been issued, four boats seized and 29 Chinese fishermen detained.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
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