A restaurant in Nantou County is serving up a dish featuring giant snakehead fish caught in Sun Moon Lake, in the hope that creating a market will help reduce numbers of the ecologically destructive invasive species. Local angler Huang Hsiaosi made news headlines earlier this week when he caught 14 of the voracious predator fish in a 9-hour overnight fishing session on Sun Moon Lake using live carp as bait. Huang said that a total of 29 fish took the
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Rare “living fossil” goblin shark caught off Taiwan’s east coast purchased by museum
Fishermen operating out of Nanfang’ ao Fishing Port in Yilan County caught a rare deep-sea goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) yesterday, and it will be used as an educational exhibit after it was purchased by a museum. The 800-kilogram, 4.7-meter-long goblin shark was caught at a depth of 8oo meters in a bottom-trawl net, drawing criticism from some quarters. The fact that the shark carried six unborn babies in its womb made critics even angrier. According to the Fisheries Agency of
Read moreTaiwan coast guard deploys elite unit for high-speed intercepts of Chinese speedboats
Taiwan’s National Coast Guard Administration has deployed a team of elite special forces equipped with high-speed assault boats to intercept Chinese poachers using speedboats to evade larger coast guard vessels around islands close to the coast of China. The Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch of the coast guard has dispatched the Special Task Unit to Dongyin Island, Taiwan’s northernmost territory, to combat an expected influx of Chinese poachers during the summer season. Fish poachers from the coast of China usually take advantage of
Read moreTaiwanese fishing boat found capsized in the Indian Ocean: crew of 16 missing
A Taiwanese fishing boat reported missing February 23 has been found overturned in waters off Mauritius, but divers found no sign of crew, according to media reports Thursday, March 2. Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture Fisheries Agency received confirmation from Mauritian authorities that the Kaohsiung-registered Lien Sheng Fa was located 490 nautical miles northeast of Port Louis, Mauritius. Mauritian search and rescue personnel reached the vessel at 6:00 am yesterday, March 2, and divers conducted an underwater examination of the boat,
Read moreEnvironmental group draws attention to fishing gear threat with video of turtle injured by fish lure
Press Release: Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) The Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) recently received reports of a green loggerhead impaled by a barbed fishing lure in the waters off Hengchun Peninsula in Pingtung County. The lure pierced the turtle’s chin, neck and left fin, visibly tugging at the animal’s skin with every fin stroke. The injured turtle was spotted by divers who captured video footage of the scene. According to Taiwan’s Wildlife Conservation Act, members
Read moreBig Waves Lash North Coast: Truck Swept to Sea, 104 Anglers Trapped, 1 Person Drowned
[Cover picture: United Daily News] Anglers fishing off a breakwater at the entrance of Keelung Harbor were suddenly faced with a life-threatening situation when a series of large waves surged over the concrete platform this morning. Keelung Harbor Bureau said that sea conditions before the waves began to surge where normal. At around 8:00am waves began to surge over the breakwater. A truck that had just pulled up near the edge of the breakwater was knocked over by the waves.
Read moreSurvivor Found in Overturned Fishing Boat
[Picture: United Daily News] A fisherman was rescued after surviving 38 hours in the overturned hull of a fishing vessel Sunday morning, December 11. The body of the captain was recovered later the same day. Jinrui Yi No. 88, with a crew of 8, sailed out of Keelung Harbor December 7 to fish for shrimp off the coast of Hsinchu County. The vessel overturned in big waves while rounding Cape Fukuei on its way back to port, Friday evening December
Read moreCrew of Taiwan-owned Boat Released by Pirates after 4 Years Captivity
The Taiwanese chief engineer of a fishing boat was set free yesterday, along with 25 crew from China, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Cambodia, after being held captive in Somalia for more than four years. The Taiwanese owned, Oman registered fishing vessel Naham 3 was the last commercial ship captured by pirates during Somalia’s pirate scourge. The crew was kidnapped March 2012, but the Taiwan ship owner claimed he had no money to pay the ransom. Of the 29 original crew,
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