The Kenting National Park Administration said yesterday it would close a section of a coastal highway for nine nights to protect land crabs crossing the road to spawn on the seashore.
From July to November each year, female land crabs make their way to the sea from the coastal forests to lay their eggs, which often means they have to cross roads, leaving them at the mercy of passing vehicles, the park administration said.
With the development of Provincial Highway No. 26 into a four-lane highway, which cuts through the coastal forest in the national park, the crabs are often crushed by cars.
To protect them, the park administration started implementing the road-closure measure last year, which proved effective in reducing the number of crab fatalities.
The Pingtung-Oluanpi highway at Banana Bay is wide and straight, so drivers on this stretch often speed up without realizing it and piles of crushed crabs can sometimes be seen on the road after a busy weekend night during their migration period, an expert said.
For this year, the park administration said that on nights right before and after the full moon during the summer months — Aug. 14 to Aug. 16, Sept. 12 to Sept. 14 and Oct. 11 to Oct. 13 — the outer lanes of the highway in both directions on the Banana Bay section will be closed. This would force traffic to move more slowly, giving drivers more time to avoid the crabs.
For the first two months, the lanes will be closed from 6:30pm to 8:30pm, while in October, they will be closed from 6pm to 8pm, which is when the migration is at its peak.
According to the Research Center for Biodiversity at Academia Sinica and foreign experts, the Banana Bay area of the park is home to multiple species of land crabs, making it the most diverse known habitat in the world for the creature.
In recent years, the park has organized groups to escort the crabs across the road, posting warning signs about the migrating crabs at Banana Bay. Despite these measures, their numbers have continued to decline.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Nearly 800 Indian tourists are to arrive this week on an incentive tour organized by Indian company Asian Painted Ltd, making it the largest tour group from the South Asian nation to visit since the COVID-19 pandemic. The travelers are scheduled to arrive in six batches from Sunday to Feb. 25 for five-day tours, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The tour would take the travelers, most of whom are visiting Taiwan for the first time, to several tourist sites in Taipei and Yilan County, including tea houses in Taipei’s Maokong (貓空), Dadaocheng (大稻埕) and Ximending (西門町) areas. They would also visit