COA responds to ETSSTAWG letter

The Council of Agriculture (COA) has responded to the letter of concern sent by the Eastern Taiwan Strait Sousa Technical Advisory Working Group (ETSSTAWG) to the COA after the group learned of a proposal to conduct live-captures of the Critically Endangered Taiwan pink dolphins for the purpose of scientific research. The COA response is follows below.

November 16, 2011

Dear Dr. Ross,

The Council of Agriculture (COA) has received your email of November 5 and letter of November 2 regarding Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin Sousa chinensis.

The COA would like to clarity that currently there are no research projects involving live capture and tagging of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin in Taiwan. Special review of research purpose and method is required before this kind of project can be carried out. Since above-mentioned dolphin is listed as protected species under the Wildlife Conservation Act (WCA), Article 18 of the WCA stipulates that prior approval from central government is also required for relevant research programs. In addition, the application needs to follow the regulation of Article 21 of the Enforcement Rules of the Wildlife Conservation Act regarding procedure and documents.

Thank you for your recommendations about reviewing research projects concerning Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin.

Sincerely,

Council of Agriculture