CRABS DISAPPEARING IN THE EAST

Typhoon Morakot struck the eastern part of Taiwan two years ago, and the hardest-hit areas have not yet fully recovered from the devastation. And although it's currently the season for mitten crabs to reproduce, people have found that the number of crabs is declining drastically.

Scholars said that people should stop catching the crabs until it's restored to the original amount.

It is usually the season for mitten crabs to lay eggs in the creeks in Southern Taitung County after the tomb-sweeping festival, which always attracts many people to catch the crabs that are being flushed to the mouth of the river.

The mitten crab is also known as creature to determine the cleanness of the environment because they only survive in clear rivers.

However, after the flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot two years ago, the mountain environment has been greatly changed.

Clear rivers have been polluted by mud and sands, which damaged the habitat for mitten crabs.

Experts found that over the past one year, rivers in South area of Taitung County have been turbid and algae that mitten crabs consume just couldn't grow in the rivers.

Since the mountain environment has been changed, it's been the second year that the crabs are not spotted, especially in Da-jen Village, the area which used to be called the home of mitten crabs.

In order to bring the mitten crabs back, Taitung County government has started the water improvement project.

Still, according to scholars who studied the ecology of the crabs in Eastern Taiwan, the number of crabs is on the decline but the good news is that the species won't disappear.

Scholars said that it also takes time for human beings to rebuild their lives, so does animals.

They also reminded that human should stop catching these crabs before the number of crabs being restored, especially when it takes a lot more time for the environment to recover and the crabs to reproduce.

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