2016年10月28日金曜日

ジュゴン 姿消す 15年度以降、大浦湾工事影響か 2016/10/27

琉球新報 2016年10月27日 08:30 

2015年1月以降、大浦湾で国の天然記念物であるジュゴンの姿が確認されていないことが25日までに分かった。同時期には沖縄防衛局が名護市辺野古沿岸海域に大型コンクリートブロックを投下していることから、自然保護団体は工事の影響を指摘する。防衛局は海域生物調査を現在中断しており、自然保護団体は、早急に調査を再開させるべきだと県に訴えている。



 日本自然保護協会の安部真理子主任とジュゴン保護キャンペーンセンターの吉川秀樹さんが、赤嶺政賢衆院議員(共産)を介して防衛局より入手した「シュワブ(H26)水域生物等調査報告書」で明らかになった。

 報告書によると、防衛局は15年の1、5、9、11月で計20日間の航空調査を実施した。嘉陽海域で9回(延べ9頭)、古宇利島海域で3回(延べ4頭)を確認、重点海域における生息範囲調査では嘉陽海域で8回(延べ8頭)確認した。だが、14年の追跡調査で大浦湾周辺を移動するジュゴンの様子が2回確認されたが、15年は一度も確認されなかった。

 また報告書によると、フロート(浮具)やアンカー(重り)が設置された14年8月から辺野古崎北側でジュゴンの新たな食跡も確認されていない。

 安部主任は、国と県が争った訴訟の和解に伴い今年3月以降は防衛局による調査が中断していることについて「半年も中断するのは大問題」と指摘。県は制限区域内での独自調査が不可能であり、調査の質と予算の限界もあるとして「早急に防衛局に調査を再開させるべき」だと強調した。

英文へ→Dugong not seen since 2015, possibly due to impact of Oura Bay construction

ジュゴン 姿消す 15年度以降、大浦湾工事影響か

Dugong not seen since 2015, possibly due to impact of Oura Bay construction

October 27, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo


Dugong not seen since 2015, possibly due to impact of Oura Bay construction

Photograph taken in 2005 by Hirokazu Nakazato. A dugong swims serenely in the sea off the coast of Henoko, Nago City. A dugong was also photographed swimming with a green sea turtle roughly seven kilometers off the coast of Henoko by NHK in 2014.  


On October 25, it was learned that the dugong, a natural monument of Japan, has not been observed in Oura Bay since January 2015. The Okinawa Defense Bureau sunk large concrete blocks into the sea off the coast of Henoko, Nago City around that time, and nature conservation groups point to the impact of the construction work there as the reason dugong have not been observed. The Defense Bureau has currently suspended surveys of marine life, and nature conservation groups are calling on the prefectural government to see that the surveys are resumed immediately.

The information about the dugong was revealed in a document obtained from the Okinawa Defense Bureau by Mariko Abe of the Nature Conservation Society of Japan (NACS-J) and Hideki Yoshikawa of the Save the Dugong Campaign Center via House of Representatives member Seiken Akamine of the Communist Party. The document is titled “Schwab (2014) Marine Life Survey Report”.

According to the report, the Okinawa Defense Bureau conducted aerial surveys on a total of twenty days in January, May, September, and November of 2015. They sighted dugong in the Kayo sea area nine times (a total of nine dugong) and in the sea around Kourijima three times (a total of four dugong). In a survey of the range of the dugong’s habitat conducted in important sea areas, dugong were sighted eight times (a total of eight dugong) in the Kayo sea area. However, no dugong were sighted near Oura Bay in the 2015 survey, despite the fact that dugong were sighted twice near Oura Bay in a follow-up survey in 2014.

Additionally, according to the report, no new signs of dugong feeding were observed north of Cape Henoko after August 2014, when the Okinawa Defense Bureau set up floats and anchors in that area.

Mariko Abe of the NACS-J emphasized that it is very problematic that no survey has been conducted for over six months, since the Okinawa Defense Bureau suspended its surveys in March when the national and prefectural governments came to an out-of-court settlement in litigation over the Henoko construction. The prefectural government is unable to conduct its own surveys in the restricted area, and there are also limits to the quality of and budget for such surveys. “[The prefectural government] should make the Okinawa Defense Bureau resume their surveys immediately,” said Abe.

(English translation by T&CT and Sandi Aritza)
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October 27, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo