The Gaomei Wetlands (高美溼地) in Taichung County, one of the most important wildlife sanctuaries along the nation's coastline, has been polluted by heavy waste oil dumped by unknown sources, environmental officials said yesterday.
The waste oil pollution, stretching for nearly 2km and covering about 1,000m² of the wetland, is the worst manmade environmental damage the sanctuary has sustained in recent memory, said Jiang Chu-nung (姜祖農), head of the Environmental Protection Administration's central Taiwan environmental monitoring corps.
“Initial investigations show that the heavy oil comes from utility boilers,” Jiang said, adding that there are no such plants nearby.
PHOTO: CNA
The Taichung County Government's environmental department has launched a probe into the cause of the pollution and according to the department, the oil could have been dumped from fuel tankers.
Local police said they were reviewing video monitor footage in hopes of identifying the culprits.
More than 100 cleanup crew and environmental volunteers have been mobilized to clean up the waste oil since Tuesday night, and county officials said floating booms had been deployed to prevent the oil from further spreading.
Firefighters have also put absorbent fibers on the beach to absorb and contain the oil slick.
“About a quarter of the polluted area is wetland subject to strict protection,” said an official with the county government's conservation department. “It is tragic that someone has unscrupulously damaged the wetland that we have been so painstakingly working to conserve.”
A group of Tunghai University professors inspecting the polluted region yesterday morning said an endangered wetland plant species Bolboschoenus planiculmis was seriously damaged by the pollution and might be wiped out.
Other special wetland species such as fiddler crabs and various fish have also sustained damage, they said.
The Gaomei Wetlands, located on the south bank of the Dajia River (大甲溪) estuary, is rich in biodiversity and plays host to different migratory birds and plant species.
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