The bird flu outbreak has not affected black-faced spoonbills wintering in Tainan County's Chiku Lagoon, county government officials said yesterday.
Environmental agencies at the lagoon have stepped up monitoring measures in an effort to keep the disease, which is threatening poultry stocks throughout Asia, away from the endangered spoonbills.
According to head of Tainan's environmental bureau Lee Mun-she (李穆生), a realtime water-quality monitoring system has been established to transfer data to the local environmental bureau. The system was established after 73 black-faced spoonbills in Chiku died after being infected with C. botulinum toxin in December 2002.
"If we found anything unusual after reading the data and analyzing samples we collect from habitats, a warning would be sent to both on-site conservationists and agriculture officials to take preventive measures," Lee told the Taipei Times.
Lee said that water experts from Tainan's National Cheng Kung University were also involved in the task of preventing the spread of animal diseases.
According to Lin Ben-chu (
Wang Jeng-jyi (
Wang said that the 2,300-hectare habitat was divided into 14 divisions, with different groups taking care of each division.
Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (
Su said more resources were needed for the promotion of environmentally friendly technologies, which suit ecotourism.
"For example, we hope bamboo rafts or entertainment boats here can be powered by solar energy and create no noise pollution," Su said.
Lin Ming-teh (林明德), a Chiku native running entertainment boats to show tourists mangroves near the estuary of the Tseng River, said well-designed regulations on ecotourism were needed.
"I don't know about others, but I myself have joined five local conservation groups to improve my knowledge about ecotourism which a good tour guide should have," Lin said.
Chang Juu-en (
At Lungshan Village, which has a population of only 2,230, hundreds of elderly people take advantage of the area's natural resources, such as its oyster shells and seashells, and use them to pave pedestrian walkways and redecorate abandoned pig farms to attract tourists.
Cheng Mu-shuen (
"I feel happy when I see trees we planted grow well in our hometown," Cheng said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.