Environmentalists to set up trust fund to save dolphins

From the China Post: Environmentalists to set up trust fund to save dolphins

Eight wildlife conservation and environmental protection organizations from central Changhua County announced yesterday the establishment of an environmental trust fund to purchase a vast wetland to save the Taiwan Sousa, also known as the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinesis), living along Taiwan's west coast. They presented a petition to the Ministry of the Interior with signatures from more than 30,000 people supporting the cause.

This is the first ever campaign in Taiwan launched by environmentalists to purchase state land to be reserved for the endangered animals in the form of an environmental trust.

The organizers also held a rally in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei to urge the government to respect the people's wish to safeguard the rare dolphins, commonly known as “white dolphins” for local people.

Under the plan, they will raise about NT$160 million to purchase a tract of 200 hectares of wetland near the estuarine waters of the Choshui River in adjacent Yunlin County.

They offer a price of NT$119 per share, which is higher than the market value of NT$100 per square meters for the land appraised by the government.

After the government consents to sell the land, supporters will start remitting the funds into a designated bank account as payment, they said.

The size of the purchased land can be expanded later on if necessary, they said.

People from fishing villages have named the animal as the “Mother Sea-Goddess (Matsu) Fish” — after Matsu, the Sea Goddess — perhaps as result of seeing the dolphins most often around Matsu's birthday in March/April when the seas return to a calmer state.

The environmentalists are concerned that the government's possible approval for constructing a giant petrochemical complex to be invested by Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co. (KPTC) in southwestern Taiwan will cause extensive pollution to farmland and agricultural crops while hampering animal conservation in the area.

Officials at the Environmental Protection Administration said there is no need to purchase the wetland since a panel conducting the environmental impact evaluation over the KPTC project has included a proposal to leave a safe swimming corridor with a width of 800 meters for the dolphins.

The committee, comprised of environmentalists, technologists and representatives of communities, is set to hold a second meeting on the proposal next week, they said.