Kuokuang grumbles about policy

"Kuokuang grumbles about policy," well, so says today's Taipei Times. As expected the Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co has lashed out at everyone concerned except themselves because they have been forced to scrap their plan to build a naphtha cracking plant on the internationally listed important Dacheng Wetlands in Changhua County.

Kuokuang chairman Chen Bao-lang (陳寶郎) ranted, "Why wasn't the government aware that there were valuable wetlands in Changhua?" "If it was aware, why didn't it tell us at the very beginning of the project?" Obviously the planning of such a project takes several years. During that period shouldn't you look into possible environmental concerns? Does Chen really expect us to have sympathy for such poor planning? Could it be that Kuokuang was well aware of the importance of the wetlands? Could it be with the legacy of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) legacy as a rubber stamp body that they thought they could just get away with it? Get away with it just like so many other environmentally devastating projects have in the past.

The Dacheng Wetlands are listed as an Important Bird Area or IBA by Birdlife International. BirdLife International acts as the evaluation body concerning birds for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUCN is the international body that draws up and puts out the Red List of Threatened Species. BirdLife International through its local partners identifies and lists areas that are of great national or international importance to birds. A quick glance at BirdLife's directory of 'Important Bird Areas in Asia: Key sites for Conservation' lists the Dacheng Wetlands as IBA TW-016. The directory was published in 2004. However, the Chinese Wild Bird Federation, BirdLife's Taiwan partner, published the Important Bird Areas of Taiwan in 2001. Come now chairman Chen? That's ten years ago! You mean to tell us you guys didn't even take a peak at the Taiwan IBA list? I somehow doubt it.


*The Dacheng Wetlands are often spelt using the old Wade-Giles system of romanisation and spelt "Tacheng."

Press Release: 2011 International Taiwan Pink Dolphin Workshop

For immediate release

Your are invited to a press conference at 14:00 on April 28, 2011.

Recovery is Possible! Protecting the Taiwan Pink Dolphins As a Move to Sustainable Fisheries in Taiwan
"There are no hopeless cases, only people without hope and expensive cases." Micheal Soule ("father" of conservation biology)

Hosted by

Academia Sinica Institute of Biological Chemistry,
Matsu’s Fish Conservation Union,
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association,
Eastern Taiwan Strait Sousa Technical Advisory Working Group

At the following location

Room 3A of the National Taiwan University Alumni Association Building
#2-1, Jinan Rd. Sec. 1, Taipei City

Contacts:
Grace Gan, MFCU, Secretary General 0928-926180
Robin Winkler, Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, Director 0937-548722

Précis
The ETS Sousa [aka Taiwan pink dolphins] and Taiwan’s fisheries are in trouble. The above mentioned organizations have been hosting a series of events during the past week related to impacts of fisheries in the Eastern Taiwan Strait on the small population of critically endangered Indo pacific humpback dolphins that inhabit the coastal area between Miaoli and Tainan. The "Workshop on Fisheries and Conservation of the ETS Indo pacific Humpback Dolphin, Sousa chinensis" concluded this morning (Thursday, 28 April 2011) with a visit by the workshop participants to Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency, Council of Agriculture. The participants, comprised of marine, cetacean and fisheries experts and academics from Canada, Mexico, Taiwan, the United States and New Zealand have been invited by the host organizations to present their findings to Taiwan’s media, NGOs and other interested parties. Participants will share some preliminary observations following their six days of field trips, seminar and closed door work-shop on the compatibility of dolphin habitat conservation and sustainable fisheries. There will be a special announcement on the death of “TW3” in September 2009 – including photos from its healthier days.

Government says that Dacheng Wetlands to become a Reserve

The internationally listed Dacheng wetlands were until Friday going to be turned into a petrochemical complex.


Following Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s opposition to the construction of the Kuokuang Petrochemical complex on the site of the internationally important Dacheng wetlands on the Changhua coast on Friday, Minister of the Interior (MOI) Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) has announced that his ministry would soon begin the process to turn the area into a nature reserve. This is welcome news and we hope that this is the start of a new attitude by the government to rehabilitating the west coast which has been greatly damaged by heavy industry.

Given the government's poor environmental record, the question needs to be asked if this is just a government ploy to appear to be doing something for the environment so they can say "we've taken action" and then allow further so-called heavy industrial development at other locations on the west coast.

The Dacheng wetlands are an internationally listed important bird area (IBA) and vital habitat for the critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphins. Until Friday, the government was planning to reclaim these internationally important wetlands for a petrochemical complex.

See Changhua wetland to become a park in yesterday's Taipei Times.

Kuokuang might be moved overseas according to Premier Wu

Taiwan Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said on Saturday that Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (國光石化) might seek an alternative overseas location possibly in Malaysia or Indonesia. On Friday Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou held a press conference at the Presidential Office and said that he opposed building the project in Changhua County after the government could no longer ignore the public outcry against this proposed environmental nightmare slated for the Chunghua coast. The state-run refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) is the largest shareholder of Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co and the government has become increasingly unpopular as it has pushed for the go-ahead of this project which has resulted in the Ma Administration as being perceived as putting the interests of the petrochemical industry above that of the nation. Reports have suggested the complex would now be relocated further south to Yunlin or Kaohsiung. However, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) was quick to say that her city "does not welcome the Kuokuang petrochemical complex" and would not accept any attempt by the central government to move a highly polluting industry there. The Yunlin County Government was also quick to voice their opposition to the idea and said "By no means can it be accepted."

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has understandably put the Ma Administration's apparent about-turn on Kuokuang down to electioneering.

See Naphtha cracker might be moved overseas: premier in yesterday's Taipei Times.

2011 International Taiwan Pink Dolphin Workshop: West Coast Field Trip

Photos from today's West Coast Field Trip on the first day of 2011 International Taiwan Pink Dolphin Workshop.


Formosa Plastics at Mailiao in Yunlin County. Reclaimed land in known pink dolphin habitat.

The Dacheng wetlands, site of the planned Kuokuang Petrochemical project.

Former Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu meeting international cetacean scientists at the Dacheng wetlands.

Pink dolphin shirts at the Taiwan Glass Museum, Changbin Industrial Park, near Lukang, Changhua County.

Fish market, Lukang area, Changhua County.

Fish market, Lukang area, Changhua County.

Shark fins, fish market, Lukang area, Changhua County.

Fish traps right across a river, Lukang area, Changhua County.

Inspecting nets, fishing port, Lukang area, Changhua County.

Trawlers, fishing port, Lukang area, Changhua County.

See:
2011 International Taiwan Pink Dolphin Workshop kicks off tomorrow

Press Release: 2011 International Taiwan Pink Dolphin Workshop

2011 International Taiwan Pink Dolphin Workshop kicks off tomorrow

The 2011 International Workshop on Fisheries & Conservation of the Eastern Taiwan Strait Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin Sousa chinensis kicks off tomorrow with a field trip to the west coast. An open workshop will be held at the Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica in Taipei on Monday, April 25th. Closed report-writing sessions will be held at Academia Sinica on April 26-27th. An open conference will be held on Thursday, April 28th.

This workshop will be the fourth international workshop dedicated to saving these critically endangered dolphins. Previous workshops were held in 2004, 2007 & 2009. International speakers include:

-Dr. Peter S. Ross, a research Scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. He's carrying out research into the levels and patterns of environmental contaminants in marine mammals, fish and fish habitat, and on the effects of contaminants on the health of aquatic biota. He holds Adjunct Professorships at Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria.

-Dr. John Y. Wang, the principal biologist of the FormosaCetus Research and Conservation Group, an adjunct professor at Trent University (Peterborough, ON, Canada) and an adjunct researcher at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium (Pingtung County, Taiwan).

-Dr. Elisabeth Slooten, Professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand. She conducts research on Hector’s dolphins, sperm whales, bottlenose dolphins, right whales, seals, sealions and other marine mammal species. This research has been instrumental in solving conservation problems such as dolphin bycatch in fisheries, disturbance from whale and dolphin tourism as well as habitat modification.

-Dr. Karin Forney, is a Research Biologist with the Protected Resources Division at the [US] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Southwest Fisheries Science Center. Since 1987, she has conducted research on abundance, distribution, ecology, bycatch, and status of over 20 species of cetaceans.

-The workshop is hosted by:
-Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica.
-Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, Taiwan.
-Matsu's Fish Conservation Union.
-The Society of Wilderness, Taiwan.
-Changhua Environmental Protection Union.

We will post reports on this blog as soon as they are released.

For more information see:
2011 International Workshop on Fisheries & Conservation of the Eastern Taiwan Strait Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin Sousa chinensis.

International Workshop Reports


Also see:
2011 International Taiwan Pink Dolphin Workshop: West Coast Field Trip

Press Release: 2011 International Taiwan Pink Dolphin Workshop

Ma sinks Kuokuang ! Time to break out the bubbly?

Shortly after the Environmental Protection Administration’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) committee failed to reach a conclusion on the proposed Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (國光石化) naphtha cracker complex yesterday, Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou told a press conference at the Presidential Office that he opposed building the project in Changhua County. This statement by President Ma has now effectively sunk the planned Kuokuang Petrochemical project in Changhua County.

The scuttling of this proposed environmental nightmare hopefully means that the Dacheng wetlands are safe from the petrochemical industry; well, at least in the immediate future. The loss of the Dacheng wetlands would almost certainly have been the death blow to the critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphins. This struggling population of unique dolphins could never have survived the impact that the planned Kuokuang Petrochemical project would have had on them. Ma said the complex, which was to be built on reclaimed land from the Dacheng wetlands, would have had an "unbearable" impact on the local ecology and environment.

The government has been firmly behind the planned Kuokuang Petrochemical project. One could quite easily have mistaken Premier Wu Den-yih for a petrochemical executive rather than the nation's premier considering how he has gone all out in his effort to get the green light for this project. Clearly, the government didn't anticipate such a strong reaction to their plans. Determined opposition to this project has forced the government to back down but has this caused a change of heart? Is Kuokuang just going to move to another front? Will we see it reemerge in Yunlin, Penghu or elsewhere?

The state-run refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油), the largest shareholder of Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co has undoubtedly lost big money in this. It goes without saying that the private shareholders from the petrochemical industry have as well. What's the government going to do to compensate for this loss? Yesterday, Ma went on to say, "However, we will not and cannot give up on the petrochemical industry."

Is it time to break out the bubbly in a victory celebration? Or in the battle against the petrochemical giants vs Taiwan's environment, has just the position of the front shifted? Any bets on Penghu?

See Taskforce equivocates on naphtha plant in today's Taipei Times.

Also see After nine hours, still no verdict on Kuokuang’s EIA.

Pink Dolphin Carcass

The carcass of the critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphin found earlier this month on the Chunghua Coast at Shengu Village in Shengang Township is being kept at the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung. The carcass is still awaiting examination as far as we know so the cause of death remains unknown.

We certainly hope that the Taiwan authorities will give full access to the carcass to independent experts. When access was given to independent international experts on the 2009 specimen, the head was still frozen and could not be examined properly. Access to a skeleton of the animal that stranded in 2000 has previously been given but many bones were missing so this obviously limited the value of such access. Access to view the skeleton of the stranded animal from 2009 has not been given to independent international experts to date. As the entire carcass was recovered in good condition this skeleton should be complete but the current status of the 2009 specimen is unknown and no official comprehensive scientific report on the results of tissue samples, causes of death etc has been issued.

We'll continue to update the blog with any additional information we learn on this tragic issue.

Carcass of a stranded Taiwan pink dolphin is removed by the Coast Guard:- photo Lee Creek-tin, Canton News.

Also see:
Another Taiwan Pink Dolphin Death (April 2011)
Taiwan Pink Dolphin Beaches and Dies on the Coast at Tonghsiao (Sept 2009)

Two Pink Dolphins found Dead in Hong Kong

Another Taiwan Pink Dolphin Death

The Coast Guard has reported finding a dead Taiwan pink dolphin at Shengu Village in Shengang Township on the Chunghua Coast on 11 April. Cause of death isn't known. The carcass has been removed to the National Science Museum in Taichung.

The loss of a single critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphin is extremely concerning as the loss of a single animal could be catastrophic to this unique population that is poised on the brink of extinction.

In September 2009 a Taiwan pink dolphin drowned in Miaoli after becoming entangled in what was almost certainly fishing gear.

We'll be following developments closely and will post additional information as it becomes available.

See Taiwan Pink Dolphin Beaches and Dies on the Coast at Tonghsiao (Sept 2009)

Update:
Pink Dolphin Carcass

Also see:
Two Pink Dolphins found Dead in Hong Kong

Ma playing election games as he links his decision on Kuokuang to next year’s presidential election

The Dacheng wetlands in Changhua; the Kuokuang petrochemical project plans to reclaim these internationally listed wetlands that are home to the critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphins and a host of other threatened species to build petrochemical factories.



Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said that no decision had been made over the future of the controversial Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (國光石化) project. Lo went on to say that as President Ma weighs the options, government agencies would "make preparations" for different scenarios. Quite what those scenarios are; well, Lo didn't elaborate. He then said that Ma would make a decision before next year’s presidential election.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, the man that holds the future of Dacheng Wetlands and the fate of the Taiwan pink dolphins in his hands: photo Wikipedia commons.


So, what does that mean? With Ma's wishy-washy politics it could mean anything. I guess it could mean Ma is sitting on the fence and as the presidential elections come to a head he'll go with whatever he thinks will get him more votes. Come on President Ma ! Take a stand for the environment. Do what's right. Put a stop to Kuokuang now and stop playing election games with Taiwan's environment.

See No decision yet on Kuokuang park, Lo says in today's Taipei Times.

Lawmakers criticize EPA over pollution in Dadu Estuary

Tundra Swans, a very rare sight in Taiwan, feeding on the mudflats of the Dadu River Estuary.


The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Green Party Taiwan yesterday criticised the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) for failing to safeguard the important Dadu River Estuary Wildlife Refuge in Changhua from shocking levels of industrial pollution yesterday. The Dadu River Estuary is a vitally important wetland habitat for shorebirds, the critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphins and a host of other marine-dependant wildlife. The area is also an important fishery area so the toxins pose a direct threat to the Taiwan's Human food chain.

See Lawmakers criticize EPA over pollution at refuge in today's Taipei Times.

Disappearance of endangered Black-faced Spoonbill in Tainan

An endangered Black-faced Spoonbill in southern Tainan: photo courtesy of Richard Yu.


Conservationists have become increasingly concerned over the future of the endangered Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor) as numbers of wintering spoonbills in the Chiku Protected Area in Tainan nose-dived this winter.

For years, flocks of tourists from around the world have been coming to Chiku in the Zengwen estuary to enjoy the sight of hundreds of Black-faced Spoonbill feeding in this wetland. Chiku is known as globally the major wintering area for this endangered IUCN Red-listed species. However, this year, many tourists went away disappointed. The number of Black-faced Spoonbills in the protected area has fallen drastically. Winter spoonbill counts have numbered above 1600 in previous years. Shockingly, the count was a mere 246 this December 2010. By the 2011 Lunar New Year, the spoonbills had all but disappeared with numbers often being in single digits inside the protected area.

According to the Black-faced Spoonbill Ecology Exhibition Hall Facebook page, the count on April 6 was just 89 spoonbills within the protected area.

On April 7 and 8, Taijiang National Park and the Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute (TESRI) will jointly hold an international conference to discuss possible causes for the decline in the number of endangered Black-faced Spoonbill in southern Taiwan.

Though no causes have been determined, initial investigations suggest that environmental disturbances such as industrial activities, Air Force training in the area, the effects of the flood of 2009, and possibly others, may have forced the birds to go elsewhere to seek food.

Spoonbills have been sighted in other areas of Tainan, Beimen, Budai, and other parts of the Yunlin-Chiayi coast; areas where they are not typically found in high numbers. Indeed, this is a most alarming development. Large birds such as spoonbills act as an indicator species. These birds are clearly showing that something is very wrong on Taiwan's south-west coast. We need to seriously think about so-called developments along Taiwan's west coast such as the planned Kuokang Petrochemical Project on the central-west coast and the impact they are having on endangered species like the Black-faced Spoonbill, Taiwan pink dolphin, Saunders's Gull and a host of other threatened species. We'll be watching events at Chiku closely.

Also see:
Black-faced Spoonbill Ecology Exhibition Hall

Society for Marine Mammalogy sends letter to Taiwan President over concerns for the Pink Dolphins

The Society for Marine Mammalogy; which is the largest professional group in the world dedicated to the study of marine mammals and consists of approximately 1,000 scientists from 60 countries; has sent a little of concern over the future of Taiwan's unique pink dolphins to Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou. I'm sure all who are working towards saving these dolphins welcome this show of support from the Society for Marine Mammalogy and await President Ma's reply with great anticipation.

From the Society for Marine Mammalogy website:

"The plight of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) of the Eastern Taiwan Strait
24 February 2011

President Ma Ying-jeou
122, Chong-cing South Road Section 1,
Chung-cheng District,
Taipei 10048,
TAIWAN

Dear Mr. President Ma:

I write to you regarding the plight of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) of the Eastern Taiwan Strait.

The Society for Marine Mammalogy is the largest professional group in the world dedicated to the study of marine mammals and consists of approximately 1,000 scientists from 60 countries. The Society's goal is to facilitate the understanding and conservation of marine mammals and their ecosystems.

As you are no doubt aware, fewer than 100 dolphins remain in this geographically isolated population. In its Red List of threatened species, IUCN has declared this population to be 'Critically Endangered', thus according it the highest level of conservation concern. Documented threats to this population include:

•fisheries bycatch
•habitat destruction (land reclamation)
•pollution
•water diversions (reduced flow into estuaries)
•underwater noise and disturbance
The proposed 4,000-hectare land reclamation project (Kuokang Project in central Taiwan) for a petrochemical facility centered in the small area of sea still occupied by these dolphins is a threat to their survival. Such a development would eliminate important habitat and likely result in a reduction in the size of the remaining dolphin population, reducing further its chances of survival and recovery.

These dolphins live in shallow coastal waters and are highly vulnerable to getting caught in fishing nets. Increased fishing pressure in nearshore waters inhabited by the dolphins is another major threat to the survival of this population.

Biology and Aquarium, a panel of national and international experts concluded that the combination of threats facing humpback dolphins could result in their extinction from the waters of Taiwan (http://www.iucn-csg.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/2007-Wang-et-al-ETS-Sousa-Conservation-Action-Plan-ENGLISH.pdf). This loss of biodiversity would be inconsistent with national commitments made under the Taiwan Biodiversity Action Plan ratified by Executive Yuan on August 15, 2001.

We urge the government of Taiwan to take an international leadership role in conserving this internationally important population for future generations. This would mean dramatically altering the plans for the Kuokang Project and restricting fisheries that use entangling nets in coastal waters of the Eastern Taiwan Strait.

On behalf of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, I extend an offer to provide any additional advice needed regarding the biology and ecology of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins.

Sincerely,

Randall Wells, PhD
President
Society for Marine Mammalogy"