Environmentalists were angered to discover that Styrofoam allegedly used by local oyster farmers was scattered along the coast of Sihkunshen (四鯤鯓) in Tainan’s South District (南區).
The group accused a local fishermen’s association of neglecting its responsibility to clean up the mess, while calling on the Tainan City Government to ban the use of Styrofoam.
Environmental campaigner Chao Jui-guang, (晁瑞光), a Tainan resident, said he found out about the Styrofoam yesterday morning.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
He said that local oyster farms should have gathered up most of the Styrofoam washed ashore, but a beach-cleaning activity undertaken by a community college almost two weeks ago picked up about 200 chunks of Styrofoam, which oyster farmers use in their work.
Chao said the fishermen’s association had “slacked off” in their work to remove the trash, adding that the situation this month is worse than in previous years.
Chao said that Styrofoam was strewn along the coast from Sihkunshen to the mouth of the Tsengwen River (曾文溪), a distance of more than 20km.
He said that Japanese research in 2012 showed that Styrofoam releases toxic chemicals, while a South Korean study published last year indicated that using Styrofoam to farm oysters poses a risk to nearby fish farming.
The city government should prohibit the use of the material and encourage the use of polyethylene, Chao said, adding that oyster farmers should use the more eco-friendly polyethylene foam — which is similar to the material used to make surfboards and does not easily dissolve in seawater.
City officials and fishermen’s association representatives held a meeting yesterday, agreeing that the Tainan Environmental Protection Bureau would gather the Styrofoam to three locations designated by the association, after which the association would clear away the trash and the bureau would send beach-cleaning vehicles to finish the job.
Chao lambasted the agreement, saying that the association should clean up the mess rather than shifting the responsibility to city officials and exploiting public resources.
“The Environmental Protection Bureau should be in charge of fining polluters, not picking up their trash,” he said.
Tainan Fishing Ports and Coastal Waters Management Office official Wu Kuo-lin (吳國霖) said that the Styrofoam was carried ashore by waves propelled by a southwesterly air stream.
Wu said that no penalties were imposed because the problem was the aftermath of a “natural event” and that the mess was accidental.
Some of the Styrofoam found in Sihkunshen showed little signs of wear, Wu said, adding that waste Styrofoam from oyster farms would not be in such good condition.
To curb pollution, the office pays fish farmers NT$30 for each piece of Styrofoam they recycle, which on average measures 90cm by 45cm by 30cm, Wu said.
He said that the fishermen’s association has more equipment for waste removal than the city government, but is short on staff, which led to the arrangements made between the two groups.
The office would work to improve the distribution of labor, Wu said.
Tainan Environmental Protection Bureau official Chu Hung-che (朱宏哲) said that the bureau had dispatched employees to collect the Styrofoam, adding that the operation could take several days given the wide distribution of the trash.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
RSS