The northwestern seashore, from Taoyuan County to Hsinchu County, is retreating as a result of human activity, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Central Geological Survey (CGS) said.
The latest survey report, released last year, showed that the coastline south of Datan Village (大潭) in Guanyin Township (觀音), Taoyuan County, and the section of coastline from Hukou Township (湖口), Hsinchu County, to Siangshan District (香山) in Hsinchu City was retreating.
CGS Director Lin Chao-tsung (林朝宗) said such erosion could have been caused by manmade structures along the coast, such as the Datan Power Station and the Hsinchu Fishing Harbor.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
While some sections of Taiwan’s coastline are retreating, the report shows there are also sections of shoreline pushing outward into the sea.
As manmade structures change the course of rivers, the sand and soil carried downstream settles only on the banks of a river mouth without manmade structures, making coastlines shrink on one side, but grow on the other, he said.
Under normal circumstances, the coastline should be growing evenly, Lin said.
The CGS said the government should take a series of measures to prevent extensive shrinking of coastlines.
Although concrete blocks are now piled along coastlines to prevent erosion, Lin said that concrete blocks would only work for a limited period of time and erosion would still occur sooner or later.
He said the best way to prevent erosion would be to make better plans before building anything along the coast.
The latest report released by the Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency showed that as of last year, Taiwan had 1,321.9km of coastline, or 3km more than in 2008. However, this was the result of manmade structures, as cemented coastline — including embankment, harbor and reclaimed lands — had grown 3km since 2008.
At the moment, 55.5 percent of Taiwan’s coastline has been cemented, about 0.1 percent more than in 2008.
As climate change progresses, sea levels continue to rise, Lin said, and the concept of reclaiming land from the sea should be changed, since experts are becoming more uncertain about how long manmade structures will last.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
RSS