Environmental advocates yesterday asked the developer of a planned aquarium and recreational park in Taitung County to provide supplemental coral surveys and to respect the rights of local Aboriginal communities amid concerns over the park’s impact.
Covering about 12 hectares on the county’s Jihuei (基翬) coast, the project, which passed an environmental impact assessment in 2009, would include aquariums, a spa and recreational facilities.
With developer Pao Sheng Ocean Park Development Co saying it would start construction on Friday, environmentalists yesterday raised concerns about the project’s potential impact on corals in the area and local residents’ rights.
The coverage of living corals in waters off the coast is between 40 and 50 percent, Taiwan Environmental Information Association secretary-general Chen Juei-pin (陳瑞賓) said, citing surveys conducted in 2017 and earlier this month.
However, the company’s environmental impact assessment report did not include any surveys on corals, Chen said.
Waters off the coastal tract extending from the county’s Sansiantai (三仙台), along the Jihuei coast to Chenggong New Port (成功新港) is a hot spot of porites coral growth, Academia Sinica’s Biodiversity Research Center researcher Allen Chen (陳昭倫) said.
He found a porites coral about 3m high and 15m wide, which might have a history of 200 to 300 years, he said, adding that the area is rich in other marine life due to its clean waters.
More than 150 coral species can be found in the waters, including the endangered and legally protected Pseudosiderastrea formosa, and the Ocean Affairs Council should demarcate it as a coral protection area, he said.
Improper development projects have grown like “tumors” along the east coast, he said, urging officials not to repeat the mistake of the Miramar Resort Hotel project that was scrapped after years of controversy.
Government agencies in charge of tourism, fisheries and marine resources should also respect local Aborigines’ rights to the domain, he added.
Together with the Amis of the Pisirian Community, environmentalists would present their appeals to the company on Friday, Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan member Huang Fei-yueh (黃斐悅) said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS