Yunlin oyster farmers encountered a large number of oysters that died before the Mid-Autumn Festival, causing losses of more than 70%. They called on the central government for disaster relief.

There are only 78 days left before the voting day on November 28. The race for Yunlin County Magistrate is heating up, with blue and green candidates competing over agricultural damage and disaster recovery. Democratic Progressive Party candidate and legislator Liu Jianguo, and Kuomintang candidate and legislator Zhang Jiajun took a boat out to sea today (10th) to investigate the massive death of oysters and seek central subsidies to reduce fishermen's losses. The oyster farmer said helplessly, "Poor"! It was the first time in 40 years of stocking that the oysters were so small before the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the losses were heavy.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, grilled oysters (oysters) are the favorite of many people. There have been reports of a large number of oyster deaths in the coastal areas of Yunlin. Xu Qing, an oyster farmer, said that in the past few days, oyster skewers have been lifted from the sea during the harvest. Many oyster shells have opened or fallen off. The situation of empty shells and death is serious. It is speculated that it may be due to the continuous torrential rain at the end of August, which caused the salinity of the sea water to become thinner, and the harm caused by oyster snails.

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Xu Qingzai said that he has been raising oysters for 40 years. In previous years, the oysters would grow bigger and bigger after the fourth month of the lunar calendar, and reach their fullest size before the Mid-Autumn Festival. But this year it was abnormal. Some were dead when peeled, some were thin, and shrunk after roasting to about the size of a booger. This was the first time in 40 years that he had encountered this situation. This time, he raised about 20,000 skewers, and the harvest was less than 30%, resulting in heavy losses.

Another oyster farmer was busy hoisting whole baskets of oysters ashore at the port. When he heard others asking about the status of this year's harvest, he shook his head helplessly and said only two words: "poor"! More than two-thirds of the hoisted oysters died, and they had to be sorted one by one after harvesting. The harvesting time changed from 2 hours to 5 hours. The harvest volume was reduced, and the price was not higher. All money was lost.

Ding Jianjia, chairman of the Yunlin County Oyster Breeding Development Association, pointed out that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, oyster farmers expected to harvest oysters as soon as possible, but they suffered serious damage. He hoped that the central government could help reduce the losses of oyster farmers.

Liu Jianguo pointed out that relevant personnel on site determined that more than half of the damage had been done, that the oyster farmers had suffered serious losses, and that rescue was necessary. He asked the Fisheries Department to step up operations so that the affected oyster farmers could receive rescue in the shortest possible time.

Zhang Jiajun said that in the past few days, many oyster farmers have reported that oysters have died in large numbers. Today's preliminary investigation revealed that the reason is due to the low salinity of seawater due to heavy rains. Since some oyster farmers have no fishing rights in their stocking areas, in addition to striving for the central government to launch natural disaster relief as soon as possible, they also hope to broaden the scope of relief.

Miao Zichang, deputy director of the Fisheries Department, said that on-site inspections revealed that the extent of damage exceeded 40% to 50%. The Fisheries Department will promptly report to the Ministry of Agriculture to initiate natural disaster relief, and will ask the Fisheries Experimental Institute to assist oyster farmers in determining the scope and proportion of the damage.