A marine waste cleanup team established last year by the Taoyuan City Government hopes to inspire change in public behavior by exposing the extent of waste near the coast, it said on Saturday.
The team — which conducted its first cleanup on July 28 — is headed by Taoyuan Office of Coast Administration Construction Director Lin Li-chang (林立昌).
“Our mission is not to clean up all of the waste in the sea, but rather to improve public awareness of the marine ecosystem and thereby reduce the production of waste at the source,” he said.
Photo courtesy of the Taoyuan Office of Coast Administration Construction
Waste is a common sight along Taiwan’s west coast and when the team cleans up a section of the coastline, it finds waste at the same spot again the following day, he said.
“Part of it drifts here with the ocean currents from other countries, and part of it is domestic waste that washes into the sea through streams and rivers,” Lin said.
Lighter waste, such as plastic and polystyrene foam, generally float on the ocean’s surface, while heavier garbage — including fishing nets, glass, dense plastic items, such as disposable utensils, and metal items — sink to the bottom, he said.
“All of this is human-made waste. It is not uncommon even to see discarded bicycles on the ocean floor,” he said.
The team performed its first cleanup at the Guanxin Algal Reefs Ecosystem Wildlife Conservation Area (觀新藻礁生態系野生動物保護區) in Taoyuan.
The team chose the spot because, unlike other areas along the west coast where drifting sand makes the water murky, the clear water allowed the team to clearly demonstrate the extent of the waste problem, Lin said.
However, even there team members could only see about 30cm ahead in the water, he added.
The team later went on to clean up Keelung’s Chaojing Bay Conservation Area (潮境公園) and Pingtung County’s Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球).
“I believe that through these cleanup operations we can slowly influence the behavior of people living nearby,” he said.
However, safety was also a concern, and the team limited its activities to waters near the coast, and always took the season and weather into account, Lin said.
“The northeasterly winds that blow during the winter have a major effect on Taiwan’s waters, so we largely limit our operations to the period between May and October,” he said.
The team also works with fisheries officials and uses data analysis to determine when visibility in the water would be least affected by coastal sand drifts, he said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
RSS