The nation’s first university student volunteer to serve on a Greenpeace vessel — the Esperanza — shared her experiences as a defender of the marine environment in Taipei yesterday.
Amy Lan (藍之青), a 22-year old student from National Chengchi University’s department of diplomacy, became a crewmember on a mission to protect the Pacific and promote the establishment of ocean reserves in Western and Central Pacific Fisheries.
Being the youngest member of the crew and the one with the least ocean-going experience, Lan said she was quite nervous when the journey started, but after a few days of experiencing seasickness, she was able to carry out her responsibilities of communicating with Taiwanese captains of tuna fishing vessels by radio, observing changes in the ocean and assisting other crewmembers.
During the eight-week mission, Lan encountered about 10 fishing vessels, four of which were Taiwanese, which she boarded to conduct interviews and better understand fishing conditions. She also saw first-hand how longline fishing is done.
“We were fortunate to be allowed to stay on a fishing vessel for four hours to observe how they fished, but the fishermen told me that they doubted they would catch any tuna on that day because they caught only two the previous day and four the day before that,” Lan said, adding that many told her that tuna catches continued to decrease.
An unforgettable episode from her journey was when the group saved a swordfish caught in the ropes of a tuna longline and watched as it swam away. The experience led her to think about the many fish killed as byproducts of tuna fishing.
Lan said she was surprised to see the hard lives of the fishermen, working on a small fishing boats in cramped conditions for seven to eight months at a time without docking and only making meager catches.
She said the experience made her more aware of marine conservation and she is now looking forward to studying environmental policy.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS