Environmental activists have urged President Ma Ying-jeou to immediately initiate measures to safeguard the critically endangered Chinese white dolphins that are nearly extinct in Taiwanese waters.

Standing alongside a dolphin model in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei, protestors from several local environmental protection groups accused the government of reneging promises to protect the rare dolphins. They jointly called on the government to face the issues by cracking down on illegal fishing in areas where the dolphin lives.

“We need actions not lip service from Ma,” said Pan Han-sheng, secretary-general of the Green Party during the protest. According to Pan, dozens of children had sent postcards to Ma earlier this year to urge the administration to actively safeguard the dolphins. In response, Ma previously claimed he was deeply touched with the children's devotion to the species.

However, the administration failed to make any progress during the three years since the International Union for Conservation of Nature rated the Chinese white dolphin a critically endangered species. Also known as Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, only 70 now reside in the waters off Taiwan’s west Coast.

Tsai Chia-yang, chairman of the Changhua Environmental Protection Union, said that Ma failed to take action to protect the dolphin. Instead, the government spent millions of dollars building homes for giant pandas in the Taipei Zoo. However, Pan stated it was a positive sign that the government decided to cancel a new naphtha cracking plant on a coastal wetland in southern Changhua County, where the species resides.

According to Gan Chen-yi, Secretary of the Matsu's Fish Conservation Union, water and noise pollution, overdevelopment, reduced food supplies resulting from over fishing and illegal fishing have all contributed to dwindling dolphin numbers. “Many of the Chinese white dolphins found are trapped in fishing nets and are choked or drowned,” she noted.

They are also called “Matsu's fish” by fishermen as they are most frequently spotted between March and April during tradtional birthday celebrations for Matsu, goddess of the sea.

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