Rare Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphins have been spotted in the waters off northern Taiwan, reports said yesterday.
The dolphins, which vary in color from dark grey to white and even bright pink, normally prefer shallow waters and can grow up to 2.8m long.
"These dolphins live in the waters around China and Hong Kong, but have also appeared near Taiwan," said Lee Ming-hua (
"Their numbers have been dwindling steadily due to pollution and destruction of habitat."
Lee said that over the past six years, four of the species were found stranded in northern Taiwan and the offshore island of Kinmen, but only one had been successfully returned to the ocean.
Local media reported the sighting of three Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphins this week, some 200m off the coast of Miaoli County.
A rare visitor to Taiwan, less than 1000 hump-backed dolphins are believed to be left in China's Pearl River Delta, including Hong Kong, according to an environmentalist at the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation in Hong Kong.
The Pearl River joins the sea between Hong Kong and Macau, after draining an area holding roughly one-eighth of China's population, bringing industrial effluent, municipal waste, and agricultural runoff.
Little was known about the dolphins until the early 1990s, when seabed reclamation and construction of Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok airport began.
Campaigners at the World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong brought media attention to the plight of the dolphins, prompting the Hong Kong Government to provide funds for extensive research into the marine mammals.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
The US House of Representatives yesterday unanimously passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, which aims to disincentivize Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by cutting Chinese leaders and their family members off from the US financial system if Beijing acts against Taiwan. The bipartisan bill, which would also publish the assets of top Chinese leaders, was cosponsored by Republican US Representative French Hill, Democratic US Representative Brad Sherman and seven others. If the US president determines that a threat against Taiwan exists, the bill would require the US Department of the Treasury to report to Congress on funds held by certain members of the
RSS