Last year, about 890 tonnes of ocean waste — mainly from China — washed up on Lienchiang County, accounting for 15 percent of the islands’ waste that year, some of which the local government is now looking to return.
The Matsu Islands are only 54 nautical miles (87km) from the Minjiang River estuary in the Chinese province of Fujian, from where a large amount of ocean waste has originated since about 30 years ago. The Lienchiang Bureau of Environmental Resources said that 888.5 tonnes of ocean waste were collected last year, accounting for 15 percent of the county’s total waste of 6,092 tonnes.
Other than some degradable waste that can be sent to incinerators in Taiwan, the slowly degrading waste is kept in landfills across the islands, bureau chief Chen Chung-yi (陳忠義) said on Wednesday.
Photo: CNA
Nangan Township (南竿) Tieban (鐵板) community development association head Lee Chin-mei (李金梅) said that it and similar local organizations have applied for subsidies from the county government to clean up local beaches.
Local residents conduct up to eight beach cleanups a month on Tieban beach, Lee said.
Chen said that county officials have visit Fujian to discuss the issue every year, and the county government is to raise the issue again during a cross-strait trade event in Fuzhou next month.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese