Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/07/04
By: Kuo Chih-hsuan and Christie Chen
Taipei, July 4 (CNA) A section of highway in Kenting, in southern Taiwan’s Pingtung County, will be
(Photo courtesy of the Kenting National Park Administration)
closed at certain times over the next four months to allow the safe passage of female land crabs as they migrate from inland areas to the coast to spawn, officials said Tuesday.
Kenting’s Shiangchiaowan is an important habitat and spawning ground for land crabs. But ever since the construction of Provincial Highway No. 26 along the shore there, female land crabs have been forced to cross the highway to reach the coast to spawn, and are often crushed by passing vehicles.
To help the crabs cross the road in safety, the Kenting National Park Administration has introduced various measures over the years, including closing certain lanes on the highway at certain times every year.
But the measures have achieved less-than-satisfying results, with the mortality rate of the migrating crabs exceeding 30 percent last year, up from the average of 20 percent in previous years.
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