After an endangered giant oceanic manta ray (Manta birostris), was on Tuesday caught and killed at a fish farm in Pingtung’s Checheng (車城), an open letter on social media pleading for a more effective conservation policy was submitted to Democratic Progressive President (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The manta ray, listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a “vulnerable” species, may grow to a span of 9m and 1,350kg in weight; though low in fecundity, adult fish may live up to 50 years, and their presence is considered highly profitable to diving tourism.
A sighting of the giant fish in September last year near Pingtung’s Kenting (墾丁) caused a stir, as netizens urged the government to take measures to protect the species for the sake of the environment, as well as the tourism industry.
Screengrab from the Internet
On Tuesday, the image of the dead manta ray on the docks of Man-feng Cage Farming Aquaculture (滿豐定置漁場) was uploaded to Facebook by the company as a routine update, prompting a diving enthusiast using the name Tiger to write a letter on Facebook to Tsai.
Addressing the presidential candidate, the netizen wrote: “This species of fish, in spite of being listed as an endangered species by the UN, is still fished in Taiwan, and right in Pingtung, the county you call home. To date, you are Taiwan’s most popular presidential candidate, and I believe that you will most certainly win. Therefore, I ask you to help Taiwan by preserving its precious marine resources.”
Man-feng Cage Farming Aquaculture deleted the image of the fish from its social media page, while maintaining that it had not committed any wrongdoing because the species is not on the government’s no-catch list.
The fish farm said the manta ray was discovered stuck in a cage and already dying by its fishermen on Tuesday, who took it to shore because it was not considered by the government to be endangered, without recognizing that it was rare or that their actions would become controversial.
The giant oceanic manta ray is not economically valuable to the fish farm, and was by no means sought out for capture by its workers, it said.
Man-feng Cage Farming Aquaculture workers said on condition of anonymity that the company had consistently released any species protected by the government’s list — such as whale sharks and sea turtles — caught in their cages, but the giant manta ray is not protected by the government and was too large to be let go without cutting the cage netting.
The workers said they were sorry for the controversy and that they would from now on cut netting to release such a fish.
To protect diving tourism, the Indonesian government declared a conservation zone for the giant oceanic manta ray in 2014. However, the government has not put the species on its no-catch list.
When asked for comment, Tiger said that as a “second-generation Mainlander,” he could no longer support the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) because its legislators continue to block the proposed ocean environment protection bill, which would ban trawling within 12 nautical miles (22km) of Taiwan.
“My intention is to raise awareness, not to blame any aquaculture operator in particular,” he said.
National Ocean University marine biologist Hsu Hua-hsun (徐華遜) said that the public response to this incident was “inconsistent” with the fact that Taiwan’s fishing industry continues to harvest many species on the protected list of the 1975 Washington Convention ratified by IUCN member states, which includes the Atlantic bluefin tuna, the oceanic sunfish and the scalloped hammerhead.
Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄), the DPP legislator of the district where the fish farm is, on Thursday said on behalf of Tsai’s campaign team that the party would support drafting laws that will keep Taiwan’s conservation regulations in line with international standards, adding that in environmental conservation, “Taiwan will not be a laughingstock among nations.”
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