Photo retrieved from: www.focustaiwan.tw
“A check dam in Shei-Pa National Park in central Taiwan will be removed in May to help restore the habitat and passageway of the country’s precious Formosan landlocked salmon, park director Chen Mao-chun said Tuesday on World Water Day.
Check dam No. 1 of the Chichiawan Creek, one of 10 built on the river to reduce channel erosion and prevent sediment from filling a downstream reservoir, creates a barrier that prevents the fish from migrating upstream, Chen said, but that is now set to change.
According to Wang Ching-ming, a professor at National Taiwan Normal University who has studied the species for 25 years, the dam’s removal will be as precious and significant for Taiwan’s ecology as “man’s first step on the moon.”
He said the dams have blocked and separated the landlocked salmon’s habitat, preventing them from mixing among different groups and causing water quality in the separate areas to be uneven.
That lack of exposure to different salmon is believed to have diminished the genetic diversity of the species and increased its chances of extinction.
Environmental and ecological changes have also narrowed the habitat of the fish to 1,700-1,900 meters above sea level, from a previous range of 1,500-2,000 meters, Wang said, making the breakdown of barriers within the habitat even more important.”
Read more: Focus Taiwan News
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