 ¡@Freshwater
Fish
Taiwan has around 130 major rivers, with a total length of some
3,800km. Previous surveys have recorded over 160 fish species
in these waters, including more than 30 endemic species and
subspecies. Representative examples are the brook masu salmon,
Varicorhinus alticorpus, Hemimyzon formosanum,
Sinogastromyzon puliensis and Zacco barbata.
Since ancient times, our river fish have played an essential
role in our lives, but for a long time the pubic at large has
generally had too little knowledge and understanding of our
river resources and placed too little value on them. In recent
years such problems as illegal fishing using electrocution,
poison or explosives, overfishing, river pollution and the construction
of dams blocking fishes' migration paths have caused a dramatic
decline in the number of river fish species and in their populations.
Surveys have shown that at least 20 species are at the brink
of extinction or already extince. For instance, such fish as
the brook masu salmon, Varicorhinus alticorpus and
the medaka are now very rarely seen in the wild.
We will seek to actively implement effective conservation
work, in the hope that the valuable resource which Taiwan's
river fish represent can be sustained for the lasting benefit
of its people.
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