Environmentalists call for marine survey databaseStaff writerEnvironmentalists on Wednesday called on the government to integrate marine survey data to establish a government database to reduce the environmental impact of offshore development projects. The Ministry of Science and Technology has an Ocean Data Bank, which holds data contributed by researchers from different universities, but the Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) has yet to establish its own database. The OAC last year proposed a long-term project on surveying marine environment and ecology, but the project was rejected by the National Development Council (NDC), Kuo said. A comprehensive ecological survey is needed before any offshore development starts, he said, calling on the government to establish a marine database soon. The government should continue to support science-based surveys of the nation’s marine environment to have a better understanding of the number and distribution of marine animals, and adjust its policy accordingly, Pei said.

Source: Taipei Times October 29, 2021 21:56 UTC