The Taitung County Government on Wednesday called on whale-watching enthusiasts to keep their distance from the most recently sighted pod of whales off Taiwan’s eastern coast to foster an ocean-friendly environment.
A hostel in Changbin Township (長濱) reported the sighting of two humpback whales near Taitung County’s scenic Basian Caves (八仙洞), the county government said, adding that two pods of four humpback whales were sighted off the east coast on Tuesday, with the first whales sighted near the Basian Caves and the others sighted near Jieciao (?橋).
The most recent previous sighting of humpback whales was in March 2021 off the coast of Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島).
Photo copied by Liu Jen-wei, Taipei Time
Sightings of humpback whales are considered fortuitous by the Tao people, as it is believed to precede the arrival of flying fish.
Expert Yeh Chien-cheng (葉建成) said that reports of humpback whales in 2005, 2021 and last year were singular sightings, adding that the recent sightings were not indicative that humpback whale sightings off the east coast of Taiwan were increasing year-on-year.
Only the whales’ tails were sighted near the Basian Caves, which was insufficient to tell the gender of the whales, Yeh said, adding that the photos would be uploaded to international Web sites where whale watchers and experts would hopefully be able to identify the whales and where they have been.
Yeh said he hoped to continue to record how many humpback whales travel off the coast of Taitung from February to May each year, adding that the whales were a ubiquitous sight a century ago.
The Taitung County Department of Agriculture said its application for subsidies from the Ocean Affairs Council to promote humpback whale conservation had been approved and urged county residents, as well as other whale watchers, to notify the county government of any whale sightings.
Yeh urged ships traveling in the seas near Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines to lower their speeds to below 10 knots if they spot humpback whales, as it is mating and breeding season for the whales.
Whale-watching ships should also keep a distance of at least 100m, he added.
The county government also called on ships to reduce speeds to below 10 knots after sighting humpback whales in front of them, and to steer away from the whales.
Whale-watching ships must not try to overtake whales, encircle them or cut through the waters between mother whales and their young, it added.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS