Coral bleaching in south blamed on lack of stormsFINE FIRST: The owner of a cargo ship that damaged coral when it ran aground off Pingtung County in 2018 was fined NT$652,967, although NT$5.8m was sought A lack of typhoons to cool waters off the south of Taiwan have resulted in severe coral bleaching, the Ocean Conservation Administration said yesterday as it issued a level 2 alert over the issue. The agency surveyed 20 areas near the coast of Taiwan proper, as well as off Green Island (綠島) and Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), it said, adding that it issued a level 1 alert for areas in northern Taiwan, where it found only sporadic bleaching. Level 2 alerts were issued for all of the areas it assessed in the south, with the exception of Jihuei Fishing Port (基翬漁港) inBy Hung Ting-hung, Tsai Tsung-hsien and William Hetherington

Source: Taipei Times August 24, 2022 02:56 UTC