To increase public awareness of the plight of endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, a ferryboat operator in Greater Taichung is offering rewards of NT$300 and NT$500 to people who capture the creatures on film.
Horng Shing Tourist Yacht president Wong Tian-bao (翁天保), founder of the Central Taiwan Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin Protection Alliance, said that starting next month, the association would give out rewards to individuals who send in photos of the dolphins, marked with the coordinates, time and location of their sightings of the sea creatures.
The photographers are to be paid differently, depending on how far the sighting is from the shore: NT$300 for sightings within 3 nautical miles (5.6km) and NT$500 for those beyond this range, he said.
The dolphins — also known as “Matsu fish” (媽祖魚) because they often appear along the west coast around the sea goddess Matsu’s (媽祖) birthday — inhabit the waters along Taiwan’s western coast and around Hong Kong, Wong said.
The cetacean primarily feeds on economic fish species native to Taiwan, and the decreasing numbers of these fish in recent years might be linked to the dolphin’s shrinking population, he said.
With a population of a little more than 100, the dolphin is on the UN’s list of endangered species and preservation is urgently needed; otherwise, future generations will not be able to see the marine species, Wong said.
“Many fishermen use gill nets within the 3 nautical mile range, which captures even the small fish and contributes to the depletion of fish stock along the west coast. And when fishermen accidentally capture one of these dolphins, they slaughter it right away to dodge the legal liabilities they would face should the Coast Guard Administration catch them,” he said.
Wong expressed hope that the association would be able to gather more support to safeguard the dolphins and that a database on the species can be established through its reward mechanism to aid research on the species.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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