The nation is recruiting a different sort of volunteers: ones willing to work at night, in the dark, helping little crabs cross a highway.
The workplace is Kenting National Park. The scenic area has an abundance of land crabs — 39 species representing seven families have been recorded there, with the highest land crab diversity found in the coastal forest of Banana Bay, according to the park’s administration.
However, the population of crabs is falling in Taiwan largely due to habitat destruction, human interference and changes in the environment and climate, the administration said.
During the annual peak spawning season between July and November, female land crabs in the park are often found crushed by cars or motorcycles on Highway 26 when they migrate from inland areas to coastal spawning grounds, it said.
The national park is taking measures to ensure that a rich variety of land crabs remains on the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) in southern Taiwan.
Each year in September and October, the park recruits volunteers to help female crabs cross a highway to reach the beach where they lay their eggs.
Ma Hsieh-chun (馬協群), director of the national park’s conservation research section, said between 10 and 20 percent of land crabs in the area are killed during their journey to reproduce by passing vehicles.
To help the crabs traverse the road safely, the park’s administration closed part of the passing lane of the Highway 26 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm on Sept. 1 and it plans two more road closures on Sept. 30 and Oct. 30, Ma said.
So far, more than 1,400 people have signed up to help the crabs cross the highway, but Ma said he hoped to recruit 160 more.
Students and employees from Taiwanese companies are especially invited to help the crabs reach the sea safely and avoid being run over by vehicles.
Last month, about 40 volunteers from Compal Electronics Inc, the world’s second-largest contract producer of laptop computers, went to a seashore road near Highway 26 to prevent the land crabs from becoming “road-kill.”
These volunteers, about 10 of whom were children of Compal employees, wore headlamps and carried buckets to help female land crabs cross the road, a company statement said.
“This is a great place for environmental education, helping children realize the concept that lives have no difference in worth and all need humans’ care,” said Sue Chen, one of the volunteers, who joined the activity with her children.
Jeff Wang, senior manager of the Green Sustainability Office at Compal, said enterprises had a responsibility to improve people’s awareness of environmental protection.
“We hope small steps such as volunteer services and donations will encourage conservation workers in Kenting, attract more volunteers and localize the protection activity for land crabs in the area,” he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and