The Ocean Conservation Administration (OCA) yesterday said that the Japanese aquarium Xpark, which is to open next week in Taoyuan, had applied and received approval to legally import 91 marine species, in response to public concern over where it is sourcing the animals.
The first branch outside Japan the Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, the Xpark is operated by Taiwan Yokohama Hakkeijima Inc and is set to open in Jhongli District (中壢) on Friday next week.
The aquarium is to feature hammerhead sharks, leopard sharks, stingrays, jellyfish, penguins, seals and sea lions, among others, the company said.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
While some aquariums feature whale sharks, the agency in June listed whale sharks, eagles and mobulid rays as endangered and first-class protected species.
Several people have called the agency to ask where the marine animals are coming from, Marine Conservation Division senior specialist Ko Yung-chuan (柯勇全) said yesterday, after the agency issued a news release saying the company had made the requisite applications.
The aquarium has since December last year successively applied for the imports of living species, the agency said, adding that it finally approved the imports of 91 species from Japan.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
Among them, 55 were first shipped to Taiwan, for which the agency had invited outside experts to review the company’s application and gave its approval after confirming the cultivation environment and use of the species, it said.
The agency did not approve the import of mussels, an invasive species to Taiwan, it added.
The company was planning to import Inca terns, but dropped the plan after the agency said it would have to inspect if the birds have sufficient space for survival in the park, Ko said.
The list of approved animals does not include any legally protected species, he said.
The agency does not know the total number of species that the park is planning to exhibit, as it only dealt with applications for imported species, he said, adding that the company might procure some species that can be found in Taiwan.
The Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) states that people caught importing protected species or their products may face a prison term of six months to five years or a fine of NT$300,000 to NT$1.5 million (US$10,160 to US$50,844), the agency said, urging people to protect marine life.
Additional reporting by CNA
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching