The nation has 10,532 Formosan landlocked salmon in several mountain creeks, a field survey by the Shei-Pa National Park administration showed.
This was the first time that the number of the endangered species had exceeded 10,000 since the park administration started its field surveys in 1999.
The salmon, which is also known as a “national treasure fish” or Taiwanese salmon, is endemic to Taiwan and at one point was close to extinction.
Photo courtesy of Shei-Pa National Park Headquarters via CNA
By the time the park agency was established in 1992, the number of Formosan landlocked salmon had dwindled to about 200.
The park said it spent last year surveying the number of Formosan landlocked salmon and released the results this week.
Specifically, the largest group of Formosan landlocked salmon, numbering 5,392, was found in the Cijiawan Creek (七家灣溪) in Taichung. The creek has already been identified by researchers as a natural habitat of the species.
Another 1,126 were found in the Rahao Creek (羅葉尾溪) and 121 in the Arikatsu Creek (有勝溪), in the upper reaches of Taichung’s Dajia River (大甲溪), and 136 in the Leshan Creek (樂山溪).
Nantou County also hosts large numbers of the fish, with 3,757 found in the Hehuan Creek (合歡溪).
Salmon in these creeks were growing naturally and steadily, the park said, adding that there is no need to raise the fish in hatcheries and release them into creeks.
The park attributed the success in restoring the natural growth of the species to a clear conservation policy that was established following a seminar hosted in 2000, which set a goal of restoring the Formosan landlocked salmon in Dajia River’s five creeks within 30 years.
The park spent the first four years trying to raise farmed Taiwanese salmon to ensure that the original genes of the species could be preserved.
It then worked to restore growth in the Cijiawan Creek by improving its five check dams and expropriating 8.1 hectares of private farmland to ensure sufficient waterflow and help preserve the forests, the park said.
Wuling Farm was asked to reduce its arable land to 5 hectares, it added.
In addition to the Cijiawan Creek, the park released salmon from the hatcheries into creeks that records show used to host the species.
Since 2000, the park and the Atayal community have been patrolling these creeks to protect these farmed salmon, it said.
The agency has set new conservation goals: From now to 2022, it would restore the population of salmon in the Sijielan Creek (司界蘭溪) and Nanhu Creek (南湖溪), and by 2022, traces of the salmon should be found in all five major tributary creeks of the Dajia River.
Salmon from the hatcheries are to be released every August, instead of March, it added.
To raise their survival rate, the fish should be at least 10cm long and released every 100m along the same creek, it said.
The check dam at the intersection of the Skitlan and Ikawan creeks has been damaged, which should raise the water level in both creeks, it said.
However, this should improve the natural habitats for the salmon, it said.
The park is also working with the Taroko National Park Administration by entrusting the latter with the task of monitoring the salmon released in the creeks.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner