A common bottlenose dolphin was found dead on a beach at Guihou Harbor (龜吼) in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) in the early hours of Wednesday, the latest incident in what is believed to be an unusual spike of stranded dolphins and whales in the aftermath of recent typhoons.
Taiwan Cetacean Society official Yang Wei-cheng (楊瑋誠) said the overwhelming majority of the strandings were likely to have been the result of sonar emissions, which can frighten many species of cetaceans, which use ultrasound for navigation.
Soon after the discovery of the dead dolphin, Coast Patrol Corps 2-1 and Gui Hou Harbour Safety Inspection Office personnel established a cordon and notified the society to remove the animal, sources said.
Photo: Lin Chia-tung, Taipei Times
On Aug. 29, a dolphin was found dead at Green Bay (翡翠灣), less than 1km from the latest incident.
Since Typhoon Megi made landfall on Sept. 28, there have been 12 strandings of whales or dolphins on Taiwan’s coastlines north of Yilan and Taoyuan, with all the animals being deep-sea species that spend time at depths of 1,000m to 2,000m, Yang said, adding that the preliminary results of an investigation would be published in the middle of next month.
In 2005, between 15 and 20 cetaceans were found dead or dying on beaches in northern Taiwan after Typhoon Haitang, Yang said.
At the time, the society enlisted international experts to assist in its research and based on the large volumes of air found in the dead animals’ organs, it was concluded that they died of decompression sickness following a rapid ascent from deep water.
The scientific consensus on cetacean strandings, based mostly on work by Western scientists in the Atlantic Ocean, blames the phenomenon on military-grade sonar, Yang said.
Prior to their death, the animals were probably subjected to sonar emissions from military sources, became terrified and attempted to flee by making a rapid ascent, resulting in fatal decompression, Yang said.
Because many powerful typhoons have passed near Taiwan without incident, a causal relationship between typhoons and strandings cannot be established, Yang said, adding that naval activities concurrent with Typhoon Megi might have caused the strandings.
The quietness of modern submarines has led to a corresponding increase in the power of sonar equipment used to detect them, and the US Navy has placed sonar devices in the waters near Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and the Philippines — to Taiwan’s north and south — to counter the threat of missile-armed submarines from China, Yang said.
Due to those developments, large-scale cetacean strandings will most likely be repeated, Yang said.
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)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
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
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
RSS