Following three years of studies on the health of Taiwan’s coral reefs, the non-profit Taiwan Environmental Information Association yesterday said the ocean ecology surrounding Taiwan was threatened by overfishing and urged the three presidential candidates to enforce ocean protection policies.
The association said that from studies on the health of Taiwan’s coral reefs done by association volunteers beginning in 2009, it discovered that aside from the condition of coral reefs, a rapid exhaustion of fish in coral reef habitats was common.
Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network East Asia planning director and Penghu Symbiotic Algae Association chairperson Allen Chen (陳昭倫) said indicator fish species and invertebrate species that are edible, such as sweetlips, lobsters and sea urchins, are very scarce, a sign of exhaustion of marine resources caused by overfishing.
Photo: CNA
“Almost all the edible fish resources in these areas have been caught,” he said, adding that based on data provided by the Council of Agriculture’s Fishery Agency, the annual catch from coastal fisheries last year had dropped 42.69 percent in comparison with the catch in 2001, with a 19.75 percent drop in offshore fisheries.
He said that although the coral cover, the proportion of reef surface covered by live stony coral, over the seven surveyed sites varied, with Green Island (綠島) presenting the highest cover rate, the overall condition was considered “medium,” according to the Reef Check Worldwide organization’s standards.
The association said an agreement was reached at an international conference in 2003, held by the International Union Conservation of Nature, promising to set aside 12 percent of oceans worldwide as marine reserves, but currently less than 6 percent of Taiwan’s ocean area is protected by regulations.
Taiwan Environmental Information Association secretary-general Chen Juei-pin (陳瑞賓) urged the government and the three presidential candidates to set up marine reserves to ensure the sustainable development of the ocean, improve ocean protection and to push for tougher regulations.
He also said the association had sent a letter to all three presidential candidates on Wednesday urging them to recognize the importance of ocean protection, but that so far there have not been any replies.
“We can wait for their replies, but marine life cannot wait anymore. So we hope the government can give us answers as soon as possible,” he said, adding that the association would continue to monitor whether ocean protection policies are being enforced after the Jan. 14 elections.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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