Conservation efforts for the Sanhe River Valley (三合溪谷) near Kaohsiung Liouguei District (六龜) have helped bring back a fish endemic to Taiwan and purple crow butterflies, Jhongsing (中興) Borough officials said.
Pointing to the layered hilltops on either side of the valley, Jhongsing Borough Warden Wang Ming-yang (王茗洋) said that every layer was the result of a severe natural disaster.
“The very top layer was created by Typhoon Morakot in 2009, the next layer down was the result of the flooding on June 10, 2012, then another event six years ago,” Wang said.
Photo: Hsu Li-juan, Taipei Times
Every flood had destroyed the community’s fish ladder, but the tireless efforts to clear away the rubble and rebuild has been rewarded with a plentiful amount of the fish swimming in the river, including Onychostoma alticorpus, he said.
The project originated after a community member visited the Tanayi Valley (達娜依谷) on Alishan (阿里山) in Chiayi County and began advocating for a local conservation effort, Wang said, adding that the project now has 25 volunteers who patrol the valley to ensure it remains pristine.
“Another surprise for visitors is that the valley is home to many butterflies,” he said.
A former borough warden, an octogenarian, confirmed that Euploea butterflies, among other varieties, frequented the valley, he said.
However, the location where the butterflies originate remains secret to prevent them from being disturbed, he added.
The community planted flowers and plants around the valley, where the butterflies cluster nine months a year, giving visitors a view of them from afar, Wang said, adding that even in winter, tens of thousands of butterflies remain in the area and do not migrate to other regions.
The community hopes the municipal government would “seal off” the river to help them fight off dangerous fishing methods that use poison or electroshock tools, Wang said.
A similar request had been approved 15 years ago, but after Kaohsiung county and city merged into a special municipality, that legal basis was annulled, he said.
The Council of Agriculture has temporarily closed off the area to investigate local flora and fauna, Liouguei resident Yang Sung-ming (楊松明) said, adding that the council would decide whether to “seal off” the river based on the results of the investigation, which is expected to take three to five years.
The conservation project asked local bakeries to prepare bread without butter for visitors to feed the fish and is looking into creating a special fish feed to sell to tourists, Wang said.
Wang also called on tourists not to bring outside bread or feed the fish with leftovers, which could pollute the water source.
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