Environmental protection groups yesterday called on the public to support a signature drive against a Hong Kong airport expansion project, which the groups said could endanger the habitat and jeopardize the chances of survival of the endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis).
The proposed expansion project is to establish a third runway through land reclamation, which is to cover 650 hectares and force a pod of 30 humpback dolphins to leave their current habitat in the waters between Hong Kong’s Lantau Peak and Chep Lap Kok.
Green Party Taiwan member Chang Yu-ching (張育憬) told a press conference in Taipei yesterday that Hong Kong government agencies and non-governmental organizations in 2002 funded a Taiwan Cetacean Society project to analyze the size and makeup of the nation’s humpback dolphin population.
Photo: CNA
“Now is the time to return the favor, as animal protection has no boundaries,” Chang said.
Project executive Hsu Hui-ting (許惠婷) of the Taiwan Environmental Info Association said species protection should come before development and urged Hong Kong authorities to carry out a comprehensive appraisal before they permit any construction.
She also read a statement on behalf of Hong Kong Airport Development Monitoring Network speaker Wu Kun-tai, who criticized the expansion project as “unnecessary,” as both passenger and cargo volumes have yet to reach the airport’s maximum capacity.
Once the project starts, the dolphins would be forced to relocate to the turbid waters of the Pearl River and may never return to their original habitat, the statement said, adding that the project would threaten their chances of survival over the estimated seven-year construction period.
“It would be too late if the humpback dolphins die out or become too few in number. No matter how vast a conservation zone is set up afterwards, it would not bring them back,” Hsu said.
She said that today marks the last day of an official public opinion poll by the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department, so concerned individuals should act swiftly and submit their petitions to 3rwdolphin.weebly.com. The petition is to be collated and handed to the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department.
The number of humpback dolphins in the seas surrounding Hong Kong has diminished from more than 100 to about 60 over the past decade, while roughly 70 humpback dolphins live off Taiwan’s west coast, between Miaoli County and Greater Tainan, Hsu said.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS