A joint panel of academics from the Mission on Monitoring the Whitening of Corals in Taiwan called for the nation to reduce development, scuba diving and fishing in coral reef areas to allow coral reefs to recover.
The mission, formed by coral reef experts from Academia Sinica, National Taiwan University, National Sun Yat-sen University, the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium, the Taiwan Environmental Information Center, the Oceanus Honors Gaia Association and the Taiwanese Coral Reef Society, said that there had been increasing amounts of coral whitening around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands 東沙群島) and Kenting (墾丁) area since May.
Changing weather patterns, as well as El Nino has led to the warming of seawater, which causes coral bleaching once water temperatures exceed the corals’ heat tolerance levels, mission member Chen Chao-lun (陳昭倫) said.
Photo courtesy of Chen Chao-lun
Chen said that Typhoon Nepartak, which crossed Taiwan earlier this month, had done little to cool local waters, adding that coral reefs are likely to suffer more bleaching in the near future due to above-average water temperatures off Taiwan’s coast.
Strong sunlight and large waves can expose coral reefs in costal areas to hot air, which also increases bleaching, Chen said.
The mission will continue to monitor coral bleaching until September, it said, adding that should the public have any information on coral bleaching, they can contact the Oceanus Honors Gaia Association on its Facebook page.
Chen said that there is very little people can do to help stop coral bleaching.
Chen said people must strive to lower carbon emissions and avoid disturbing coral reefs, adding that fishing trawlers in the area should curb overfishing.
Chen also called on the local tourism industry to suspend scuba diving and snorkeling to allow reefs to recuperate.
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