Animal rights advocates yesterday urged the National Science Council (NSC) to revoke a license for an international collaborative project investigating seismic structural features of the earth’s crust in order to avoid harming marine life.
The activists made the appeal during a protest rally in front of the NSC in Taipei.
The council is sponsoring the Taiwan Integrated Geodynamics Research (TAIGER) project.
The earthquake study initiated by the Columbia University-affiliated Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is a sea floor investigation project in the exclusive economic zones of Taiwan, China, Japan and the Philippines, the conservationists said.
They said that air guns, which will be used under the sea in the study, could produce a noise equivalent to 265 decibels (dB), and could be a threat to sharks and dolphins.
The US government launched an environmental impact assessment last December and established measures aimed at minimizing adverse effects on the marine ecosystem last month, the activists said.
In comparison, the NSC granted a research permit for the project without getting the results of the impact assessment, the conservationists said.
Pointing out that the NSC convened a review meeting on the project last December but refused to make public the meetings’ minutes, the activists said they should be given a chance to provide relevant information and marine experts should be allowed to express their opinion to the NSC.
In response, NSC official Cheng Chien-hong (鄭建鴻) said boats used in the experiment will be equipped with facilities to protect marine animals.
He also said marine biologists would call a halt to the firing of air guns any time that noise limits are breached.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is