National Taiwan Ocean University is to discontinue an emergency care program for sea turtles this year, its Maritime Ecology and Conservation Lab said yesterday, citing a shortage of personnel and funds, as well as a general lack of respect from the Ocean Conservation Administration (OCA).
OCA Deputy Director Wu Long-ching (吳龍靜) said the agency respected the lab’s decision.
Local government departments would resume oversight of turtle care projects, Wu added.
Photo: CNA
The agency previously funded the university’s project directly, but the method proved “inappropriate,” Wu said, adding that it instead sought to implement a bidding mechanism for turtle care funding.
Wu encouraged local government departments to apply for funding, saying that it would ensure that the turtle care efforts continue.
Lab director Cheng I-jiunn (程一駿) said the primary reason for the discontinuation was funding issues.
Cheng, a professor at the Keelung-based university, previously said the lab would apply for continued funding of NT$1.6 million to NT$1.8 million (US$53,872 to US$60,606).
However, Cheng said the funding mechanism had been changed into a government project that accepts bids from external institutions.
Due to funding issues, the lab only employs one assistant, Cheng said, adding that it still owes NT$50,000 in wages to previous lab assistants.
Its debt totaled about NT$1 million, he said.
Cheng said the OCA did not respect the lab’s expertise.
“This lab was established to provide correct information, not imagined information that the OCA wishes it to provide,” Cheng said.
Cheng cited an incident during the Lunar New Year holiday last year in which a leatherback sea turtle was found entangled in a fishing net.
Although the turtle was still alive, “I knew it was beyond our help,” Cheng said, adding that he at the time decided that it should die in peace.
However, after the turtle died in a pool operated by the lab’s project, a volunteer from one of the animal protection groups that had helped it transport the turtle accused the lab of causing the turtle’s death, Cheng said.
University secretary-general Lin Cheng-ping (林正平) yesterday said the school would look into the funding issue and, if necessary, provide financial assistance.
The OCA said it has set aside funding for emergency sea turtle care and rescue programs, which were previously provided by the lab in northern Taiwan and the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology in southern Taiwan.
The OCA said it this year sought assistance from other groups after the lab stopped providing its services.
So far, the groups had carried out 13 missions that involved sea turtles being stranded, it said.
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,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
RSS