Yunlin County Government relocates Oryzias chenglongensis to safeguard the endemic species

(中央社訊息服務20251112 13:57:28)The Yunlin County Government and the Yiwu Junior High School launched a collaboration starting last year to run an ecological education program on the Chenglong Wetland. On Oct. 16, the government led the teachers and students to relocate and conserve the Oryzias chenglongensis, a ricefish species native to the wetland. The students were guided to operate nets in an indoor temporary holding pond before releasing the fish into an outdoor aquatic plant culture pond. They also observed how aquatic plants were used to stabilize the species population. The program aimed to enhance students' scientific thinking and innovation abilities through local ecological knowledge, with wetland biodiversity protection as the goal.

The Kouhu Township area in Yunlin County suffered from land subsidence and seawater intrusion due to excessive groundwater extraction caused by aquaculture in earlier years. Later, the devastation caused by Typhoon Wayne in 1986 and Typhoon Herb in 1996 further led to long-term waterlogging of farmland, gradually forming wetlands. For many years, the county government, local communities, the Nantou Branch of the Forest and Nature Conservation Agency, and the National Park Service of the Ministry of the Interior have worked together to manage and restore these wetlands, launching initiatives such as ecological survey and related ecological protection programs. In 2023, they re-examined the data on fish species in Chenglong Wetland and confirmed that the Oryzias chenglongensis is a species endemic to Taiwan. Professor Lai Hung-chih (賴弘智) of National Chiayi University and Professor Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄) of National Taiwan Ocean University officially published the data using Chenglong Wetland as the type locality, which brought the name of wetland to the world academic stage.

Yunlin County Magistrate Chang Li-shan (張麗善) thanked Professor Wang Po-ching's (王柏青) team from National Chiayi University for leading Yiwu Junior High School in the relocation of the ricefish species. Through hands-on learning, the teachers and students learned about the characteristics of Yunlin wetlands, which helps to cultivate their understanding of the natural environment and their interest in ecological science. She also thanked Li Shui-tui of the Chiao-Wei Ya Farm for providing an indoor temporary rearing area for seed preservation and for improving the environment of the outdoor seaweed aquaculture ponds, creating a stable living environment for the species. This effort also serves as an example of public-private cooperation in improving wetlands and addressing ecological issues.

Chang also stated that in recent years, global climate change and extreme rainfall have made the hydrological environment and habitat of Chenglong Wetland difficult to control and predict, which has also increased the difficulty of conservation work for small fish species such as the Oryzias chenglongensis. The county government will continue to cooperate with various units to explore the feasibility of Chenglong Wetland management and the ricefish species restoration, along with carrying out hydrological regulation and habitat construction based on scientific survey results to seek for the best solution. It aspires to protect the important coastal wetland of Yunlin and take into account the development of local industries.