Fishing restrictions have been imposed around Taitung County’s Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) to protect the island’s flying fish culture, giving rise to conflict between local residents and Pingtung County fishermen, with a township official vowing not to yield on the restrictions and Aboriginal tradition.
To protect Lanyu fishermen’s rights during the flying fish season, the Council of Indigenous Peoples announced a ban on fishing boats of more than 10 tonnes coming within 6 nautical miles (11.1km) of Lanyu from March to June — the flying fish season — while prohibiting the use of destructive fishing methods such as drift gill nets, push-netting, blast fishing and fishing with poison.
The Taitung County Government announced a separate ban, prohibiting non-local fishing boats from operating within 3 nautical miles of Lanyu from February to July, as well as a prohibition on motor-powered fishing boats of more than 10 tonnes catching flying fish within 6 nautical miles of Lanyu, while boats under 10 tonnes are prohibited from using jet skis or high-speed vessels to chase flying fish.
Photo: CNA
The restrictions sparked protests from Pingtung fishermen, who said their fishing rights were affected, with fishermen at Houpihu (後壁湖) in Pingtung’s Hengchun Township (恆春) threatening to block tourists from boarding vessels traveling between Houpihu and Lanyu.
Lanyu Township Mayor Syaman Karamu said they would never compromise on the fishing restrictions despite the threat.
“The entire Tao culture is structured around flying fish, without which the lifestyle and ecosystem of the island would be changed dramatically. So I insist that there can be no changes to the flying fish tradition,” he said.
“Protecting Lanyu fisheries cannot be limited to banning fishing boats from outside the island, and Lanyu residents have to discuss how to regulate diving activities,” Taitung County Councilor Huang Tien-te (黃天德) said.
Migrating flying fish swim near the shore, so a 6 nautical mile fishing ban affects Pingtung fishermen’s operations, but the livelihood of Lanyu residents and the Lanyu culture depend on harvesting flying fish in this time of the year, so the government should help Lanyu and Pingtung fishermen communicate with each other to reach a compromise, the Singang Fishermen’s Association in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) said.
Cruise operators said they were at a loss being involved in the fishing conflict, adding that they do not engage in fishing activities and do not have a say on fishing businesses, calling on the government to step in and help ease the tension.
Liya Chu (朱如茵), whose parents are New York-based Taiwanese restaurateurs, has been crowned the champion of US television cooking competition MasterChef Junior, after wowing the judges, including celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, with a feast of fusion cuisine. In the finale of the show’s eighth season, broadcast on Thursday, Chu walked away with US$100,000 after serving a spread of spiced duck breast with scallion pancakes and miso eggplant, followed by coconut pandan panna cotta with a passion fruit coulis and sesame tuille. Chu, who was 10 years old at the time of filming three years ago, faced off against then-11-year-old Grayson Price from
A university student has gained the spotlight for an interactive map he designed detailing all of China’s military bases and installations throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Soochow University music student Joseph Wen (溫約瑟), who calls himself an amateur military enthusiast, said he created the map to “help people better understand the cross-strait situation.” Wen originally posted the map online on June 14 last year, but it gained greater attention after he mentioned it during an appearance on a China Television talk show. On the show, Wen said he had gathered information on the locations from publicly available Web sites, as
GLOBAL STRATEGY: Indo-Pacific alliances need reinforcement to prevent Chinese occupation of Taiwan, which would threaten Japan, Hawaii and Australia, Pompeo said The US should officially recognize Taiwan as a free, independent nation and establish official diplomatic ties, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo told an event at the Hudson Institute in Washington on Friday. Every US president since Harry Truman has considered Taiwan’s existence to be of utmost importance to US national security, Pompeo said. Taiwan is a principal US partner in technology and economic matters, and if China were to capture Taiwan’s semiconductor supply chain, it would severely hamper the US economy, Pompeo said. Should China occupy Taiwan, it would severely weaken US influence in the Indo-Pacific region and its surrounding areas,
Opening-day ticket sales for a horror exhibition at the Tainan Art Museum were suspended twice on Saturday as the show attracted too many visitors. Titled “Ghosts and Hells: The Underworld in Asian art,” the exhibition runs until Oct. 16. It is the local version of a show that debuted at the Musee du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris. It was planned and curated by Julien Rousseau. The Tainan museum said that within an hour of its doors opening, more than 1,000 people had entered the exhibition. By noon, 3,000 physical and virtual tickets had been sold, while the museum had more than 4,000
RSS