Yunlin County Calls on the Central Government to Immediately Activate a Fishery Cold Damage Relief Mechanism

A once-in-a-decade cold snap has once again dealt a heavy blow to Yunlin County's inland aquaculture fishery, with the initially estimated affected area exceeding 600 hectares. The damaged aquatic products are mainly milkfish stocked together with hard clams that have been frozen to death, with a mortality rate of 20-30%, and the losses are conservatively estimated at more than 10 million yuan. The affected area and damage were relatively severe especially in Mailiao Township, Taixi Township, Sihu Township and Kouhu Township.

Lin Hui-ju, director of the Yunlin County Agriculture Department, said on the morning of the 13th while inspecting the damaged fish ponds accompanied by the Yunlin District Fishermen's Association that the initial estimate put the main fishery losses in the mixed-culture working fish in hard clam aquaculture ponds, where losses reached more than 20%. The Yunlin County Government has reported this fishery damage situation to the Fisheries Agency of the Council of Agriculture, and called on the central government to show consideration for the fishermen's losses, immediately activate a cold damage relief mechanism, and help fishermen get through the difficulties.

The Yunlin County Agriculture Department said that milkfish stocked together with hard clams in the shallower hard clam aquaculture ponds have weaker cold resistance. If the water temperature falls below 15 °C, groundwater should be pumped in to raise the water temperature, and if necessary, early harvesting should be planned to reduce cold damage losses. If fishermen's aquatic products are damaged, they should also report it to the township, town or city office as soon as possible, so that it can serve as the basis for subsequent handling of related disaster relief.