Waste oil found along the east coast since early this month could be runoff from the washing of oil tanker cabins, the Ocean Affairs Council said on Saturday.
No oil tankers that have recently passed eastern Taiwan have been found to have leaked waste oil, based on information gleaned from satellite images and drones, leaving the source of the oil unknown, the council’s Ocean Conservation Administration said in a statement.
The statement was released following an investigation conducted by local officials after several instances of waste oil were reported since the beginning of the month, mostly on coastal rock formations in Taitung City, Hualien County, Yilan County, Keelung and Pingtung County.
Photo courtesy of the Ocean Affairs Council
The first polluted coastal area, about 50 meters in length, was found on Green Island (綠島) off Taitung County on Dec. 1.
Other examples include a 150m by 40m area in Taitung’s Jialulan Recreation Area (伽路蘭遊憩區) and a 400m by 40m area in Yilan County’s Toucheng Township (頭城).
As of Saturday, local governments had dispatched 70 vehicles and 409 people to clean 16 areas, with 2.705 tonnes of waste — including oil-absorbent sheets, pebbles and sand — removed, the administration said.
To determine the source of the waste oil, officials from local environmental protection bureaus collected samples and used simulation and tracking technologies, but no sources were found, the administration said.
An analysis found that oil samples collected on Green Island were a mixture of light and heavy crude oil, the administration said, adding that the substance could be from runoff from the washing of oil tanker cabins.
Waste oil samples collected in Keelung and New Taipei City have been harder to analyze, because the light crude oil had volatilized and the remnants are coagulated, the administration said, adding that it is likely the same as that found on Green Island.
Also, two kinds of waste oil were collected in Pingtung County’s Jiupeng Desert (九棚大沙漠) — a sandy beach — but they were probably different from what was found on Green Island and in Keelung, it said.
The administration called on ship crew members to keep waste oil on their vessels and to hand it to certificated companies to dispose of when arriving at the next harbor.
Any vessel caught disposing of waste oil in the ocean faces a fine of up to NT$30 million (US$958,038) for breaching the Marine Pollution Prevention Act (海洋污染防治法), the administration said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS