Satellite tag technology has facilitated observations of the movement patterns of large fish in waters around Taiwan, the Ocean Conservation Administration (OCA) said on Friday.
The agency said that it has been collaborating with the Fisheries Research Institute since 2021 to track the movements of fish such as megamouth sharks by installing pop-up satellite archival tags on them.
The tags can accurately record the movements of the fish, the depths they swim at and the temperature of the water, it said, adding that when the tags detach, they float to the surface and transmit the data back to the research team via satellite.
Photo courtesy of the Ocean Conservation Administration
Data on 18 fish from nine species have been recorded — three whale sharks, two megamouth sharks, two winghead sharks, two bowmouth guitarfish, a bottlenose wedgefish, two Taiwanese wedgefish, three shortfin mako sharks, a longfin mako shark and two thresher sharks, the OCA said.
The data from the megamouth sharks were especially valuable, as there have been fewer than 300 reported sightings or catches of the species since the first one was discovered in waters off Hawaii in 1976, it said, adding that more than half of the reports were near Taiwan.
The Fisheries Agency in 2020 promulgated a megamouth shark fishing ban, the OCA said.
The data from the tags showed that the two megamouth sharks typically swam at a depth of 400m to 600m in the daytime, and at about 200m at night, it said.
They lead such a “life of two cities” by alternating between deep and shallow waters, probably to catch prey such as krill, it added.
The data showed that the bottlenose wedgefish tended to swim at 7.5m to 42m and in waters of 25.1°C to 28.9°C, while the Taiwanese wedgefish preferred waters no deeper than 28m at temperatures ranging from 26.75°C to 32.25°C, it said.
The data would be used to formulate ocean conservation policies, it added.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS