Fishery authorities and the Nantou County Government are failing to protect Nantou County’s Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) from giant snakeheads that are threatening area fisheries and tourism, a local fisherman said on Wednesday.
Large numbers of giant snakeheads began appearing in the lake’s waters over the past months, and their numbers might increase to more than 1,000 after their breeding season in May and June this year, said Cheng Chih-min (鄭智民), a fisherman with decades of experience working on Sun Moon Lake.
Giant snakeheads are carnivorous predators known for their large size, ferocity and tendency to attack prey in swarms, which makes them a threat to the lake’s native ecology and a potential hazard to tourists participating in the Sun Moon Lake Swimming Carnival, Cheng said.
Photo: CNA, provided by Cheng Chih-min
According to sources, a giant snakehead can grow to 1.3m in length and 20kg in weight.
Local fishermen have been catching snakeheads on their own initiative in the past months at a cost of more than NT$100,000, but snakeheads continued to overrun the lake, making it difficult for them to catch other fish, Cheng said.
Although snakeheads are edible, consumer interest in them is limited and local fishermen lack the advertising resources to boost demand; most of the snakeheads they caught were mulched for fish feed or served at home, Cheng said.
Regardless, the government should not try to manage giant snakeheads as a commercially valuable species, because their presence could destroy every fish population in Sun Moon Lake, Cheng said.
Local fisherman were told by the fisheries agency that Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is responsible for managing the Sun Moon Lake Reservoir, but when Taipower was contacted, a representative said it has no budget or staff available for varmint control, Cheng said.
“We had previously petitioned the Presidential Office and received a positive response to our demands, but at the moment it looks like all of the administrative offices are busy passing the buck instead of doing something about it,” he said.
When asked for comment, Nantou County’s Department of Agriculture said it does not have authority over controlling the giant snakehead population, which falls to the Fisheries Agency by order of the central government.
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