While an Oscar award-winning documentary has recently put Japan in hot water over its dolphin hunting, Taiwan’s endangered white dolphins are on the verge of extinction because their natural habitat is disappearing as a result of severe environmental degradation, a wildlife conservationist said on Sunday.
Gan Chen-yi (甘宸宜), secretary of the non-profit Matsu’s Fish Conservation Union, said the number of white dolphins, also known as Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins — a species listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as “critically endangered” in 2008 — now stands at only between 60 and 90 off the west coast.
“The Taiwanese white dolphin might become extinct within 10 years if industrial development near the estuary of the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) is not halted,” said Gan, who doubles as secretary of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union.
Gan said there was previously believed to be approximately 200 of the mammals about 3km to 5km off the west coast between Miaoli and Tainan counties between 2004 and 2006.
That number had fallen to no more than 100 by 2007, indicating that various industrial and harbor development projects along the western coastline have seriously polluted the dolphin’s natural habitat, Gan said.
“The issue is becoming even more pressing, as the north side of the Jhuoshuei River estuary between the counties of Changhua and Yunlin has been zoned as a development area for a new naphtha cracking plant,” she said.
She called on the public to purchase public land near the estuary and put that land into trust in an effort to protect the critically endangered species.
Meanwhile, Tung Gene-sheng (董景生), chairman of the Taipei-based Taiwan Environmental Information Center, said his office has invited Oliver Maurice, an official with the International National Trust Organization, to come to Taiwan to help residents buy public land.
Tung said according to the center’s plan, a corridor of 200 hectares of land along the estuary would need to be purchased in the first phase of the project, with each unit of 1m² zoned as one share and selling at a cost of NT$119.
A trust fund would be created through the land sales, Tung said, adding that the drive was expected to take 90 days.
White dolphins have an extremely low birth rate and a life span of 30 to 40 years. It takes 10 to 12 years for them to reach sexual maturity and a female dolphin gives birth only once every three to four years, Tung said.
The humpback dolphins are called “Matsu’s fish” by local fishermen because they are seen most frequently between March and April, when the birthday of Matsu, the Chinese goddess of the sea, is celebrated in Taiwan.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
RSS