Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/10
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, March 10 (CNA) Three U.S. conservation groups on Wednesday

(Photo from the website of Animal Welfare Institute)

petitioned the U.S. government to help protect Taiwanese humpback dolphins (臺灣白海豚) to prevent the extinction of the species that the groups say now has a population of fewer than 75.

The petition calls for the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service “to encourage Taiwan to address pollution, illegal fishing, boat traffic and other threats these small dolphins face in the shallow waters along Taiwan’s densely populated west coast,” according to a joint statement by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians.

“This small population of dolphins is in serious trouble,” Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with the AWI, was quoted as saying in the statement. “Once it disappears, it is gone forever. The U.S. should do everything it can, including listing it under the ESA (Endangered Species Act), to prevent this from happening.”     [FULL  STORY]