To mitigate the potential effects of offshore wind farm construction on wildlife, the Ocean Conservation Administration yesterday said that it aims to train 40 marine mammal observers this year.
The agency held two policy explanation meetings, one in Taipei on Monday and the other in Kaohsiung yesterday, and has commissioned Awareocean Technology Co to conduct training sessions from next month, it said.
Applicants must be at least 18 years old and cannot be students, and must have experience working at sea or conducting ecological surveys, it added.
Due to the limited training budget of NT$2 million (US$63,432), only 40 trainees may participate, Marine Conservation Division senior specialist Ko Yuan-chuan (柯勇全) said, adding that the agency has already received nearly 150 applications.
After it stops accepting applications at 5pm on Monday next week, the agency would draw lots to decide on candidates and would finalize the list by June 24, it said.
The government has vowed to generate 5.5 gigawatts of electricity from offshore wind farms by 2025, attracting global energy developers to Taiwan and facilitating their connections with local industries.
During environmental impact assessments for construction projects off the coast of western Taiwan, the developers promised to employ observers to avoid harming marine mammals near the construction sites, the agency said.
As the cetacean observer system is brand new to Taiwan, the Environmental Protection Administration only required developers to hire “well-trained” observers, without defining their required expertise, while the oceans agency would evaluate its training program and might set up clearer criteria at a later date, Ko said.
The training sessions, which are to begin on July 9 in Taipei, are to include lectures by members of the Industrial Technology Research Institute’s Green Energy and Environmental Research Laboratories, the Taiwan Cetacean Society, Awareocean, PricewaterhouseCoopers Taiwan and WeatherRisk Explore Inc, Awareocean said.
All trainees are also required to spend one-and-half days aboard ships to put their learned skills into practice, which might take place in the waters off central Taiwan between July 15 and Aug. 31, depending on weather conditions, it said.
After passing a final written test, the trainees would receive a training certificate, it said.
However, the certificate does not guarantee that the trainees would get jobs, as the energy developers might ask them to undertake additional training, Ko said.
Some applicants have raised concerns about employment conditions, given that construction and observation tasks are susceptible to weather changes, he said, adding that the conservation agency would further discuss the matter with energy developers.
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with countries that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
ORIGIN UNKNOWN: The Leofoo Village Theme Park and Taipei Zoo have accounted for their baboons, as authorities continue a 12-day capture attempt Authorities in Taoyuan are searching for a non-native baboon, possibly of the chacma species, that has been spotted several times in the city’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) over the past 12 days, and was most recently seen in coastal Sinwu District (新屋). The baboon was first spotted near a local factory on March 10 in central Taoyuan, Jhensing Borough Warden Huang Chih-chieh (黃志杰) said. Huang said he requested the Leofoo Village Theme Park’s help after a second sighting on Saturday. In other sightings, the baboon raided fruit and vegetable gardens on private property, and has evaded one capture attempt via a tranquilizer dart. Media reported
Taiwan would have established formal relations with Argentina long ago if not for China’s interference, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui told US-based Spanish-language online news outlet Infobae in an interview published on Tuesday. Beijing has left behind a string of unfulfilled promises in Latin America, including pledges to build the Grand Nicaragua Canal and airports, docks, ports and industrial zones in El Salvador, he said. Meanwhile, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and other countries enjoy pragmatic and improving relations with Taiwan based on cooperation on the economy, culture, technology and science, he said. While Taiwan is “happy to live and let live,”