A man who allegedly harassed dolphins with his yacht off Yilan County has been fined NT$20,000 for breaching the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法), the first such case in the nation, the Ocean Conservation Administration (OCA) said yesterday.
In August, a group of tourists on a whale-watching boat reported seeing the man speeding up his vessel toward a group of dolphins near Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島).
The dolphins, who were swimming near the surface, dived deeper, as they were seemingly scared by the yacht, the tourists reported at the time, with one of them later handing video footage of the incident to the Yilan County Government.
After an investigation by the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office, the man was fined NT$20,000 and prosecution of the incident was deferred, the OCA said in a news release.
He contravened Article 42 of the act, which forbids harassing or abusing protected wildlife, it said, adding that all whales and dolphins are protected under Taiwanese law.
It is the nation’s first such case that resulted in a penalty, the OCA said.
The video provided by one of the witnesses was of great help to the investigation, it said, adding that in many reported incidents, the evidence is insufficient and alleged perpetrators cannot be prosecuted.
The OCA last month held a meeting with conservationists, prosecutors, and coast guard and government officials to discuss how to identify and collect evidence in alleged cases of marine wildlife harassment.
Nearly 30 of the world’s more than 80 whale and dolphin species have been reported in the waters near Taiwan, with the best season for watching the animals from April to October, the OCA said.
According to OCA guidelines, ships engaged in wildlife-watching should travel at a slow and steady speed.
Vessels should maintain a distance of at least 50m from the mammals and a distance of at least 300m to nursery groups of whales or dolphins, the guidelines say.
When seeing dolphins riding bow waves of their ships — which allows the dolphins to swim at higher speeds — vessels should keep a steady pace and not change direction abruptly, to avoid scaring or harming the animals, the guidelines say.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but