The head of the Hualien Fishermen’s Association claimed yesterday that “over-protection of dolphins” were partly to blame for reduced catches by fishermen on the east coast.
According to Wang Teng-yi (王鐙億), dolphins are the top predators in the marine food chain, eating even large fish, making them the “natural enemy” of fishermen.
“Fishermen are often annoyed to find that fish caught on their long-line hooks have only the heads remaining,” he said, attributing this to dolphins.
“Fishermen can do nothing to prevent dolphins from stealing their catches as they are protected by government policy,” Wang said.
Wang said the -government’s -efforts to encourage fishermen to shift to “dolphin watching” eco-tourism was “impractical,” because most are not equipped either financially or technically for the newly emerging leisure business.
“Most fishermen respect the idea of dolphin protection initiated by environmentalists, but the government should also pay greater attention to the problem of over-population of dolphins,” he said.
Wang made the remarks following a Taiwan-Japan seminar on fisheries cooperation in Hualien a day earlier, during which an expert said the number of fishing boats in Hualien had fallen from 600 about 12 years ago to 400 now, while total catch weight had also declined significantly during the same period.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
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