Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/07
By: Yang Shu-min and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Oct. 7 (CNA) The claims for compensation faced by the owner of a container ship that ran aground off Taiwan’s northern coast earlier this year could set a record high, the Fisheries Agency said Friday.

Shortly after the ship, the “T.S. Taipei” (德翔台北) of T.S. Lines Co. (德翔海運) ran aground off Shimen, New Taipei on March 10, it cracked and eventually broke into two, leaking heavy oil and fuel into the sea.

The agency commissioned two National Taiwan Ocean University professors — Cheng Sha-yen (鄭學淵) and Ou Ching-hsiewn (歐慶賢) — to assess the scope of the damage the leak caused to marine life and fishermen.

Cheng said their study found that over 40 percent of fish larvae in the surrounding waters were gone and that the losses and cost of rehabilitating the waters could be in the tens of millions of Taiwan dollars.    [FULL  STORY]