The Honorable Akinori Eto,
Minister of Defense
The Honorable Kazunori Inoue,
Director General, Okinawa Defense Bureau
The Honorable Yoshio Mochizuki,
Minister of Environment
The Honorable Hirokazu Nakaima,
Governor of Okinawa
Joint Petition by the 19 Society Groups calling for Environmental Conservationof the Highly Remarkable Biodiversity in Oura Bay, Okinawa
The ecosystem of coral reefs that develops in the tropical region of the western Pacific is known ashome to the highest marine biodiversity around the world and its conservation has been recognized as animportant international issue.
The Ryukyu Islands of Japan are located on the northern limit of this rich coral reef ecosystem.
However, in many places of the Ryukyu Islands, modifications of the coastline due to coastal
development in the past and outflows of red clay sediment caused by the development of the land area,
have significantly damaged the coral reef ecosystem. Accordingly, rich biodiversity that has been fostered
here is disappearing.
In such circumstances, the coral reefs and diverse natural environment around Henoko in Oura Bay,
Nago City, located in the northern part of the east coast of Okinawa Island, remain without largedestruction, and the remarkably high biodiversity has been preserved there. We should show our pride ofhaving such a coral reef ecosystem to the world. As a contracting party of the Biodiversity Convention,
Japan has the responsibility to preserve it.
Currently, in Oura Bay, where a rich coral reef ecosystem remains, a plan to landfill the surroundingarea of the entrance of the bay (around Henoko area) to build an US military airfield base is under way. In
additions, a seabed drilling survey (as preparation for the landfill main construction) has been conductedsince August, 2014.
If the landfill work moves ahead, the richness of the irreplaceable coral reef ecosystem that remains inthis area might be lost forever without many people being aware of its value.
The coral reef ecosystem around Oura Bay possesses noteworthy features and values in the following
aspects.
1. The whole area of Oura Bay is a region with particularly high biodiversity in our country which has
been recognized as one of the hot spots of biodiversity in the world. According to the environmental
impact assessment report of the Ministry of Defense, 5,334 species have been recorded from the coastalwaters (including waterfowls; refer to Table 1), including 626 endangered species.
In addition, through subsequent surveys, an undescribed species of huge sea cucumber and many
undescribed or unrecorded species of sponges, ctenophores, gorgonians, sea slugs, crabs and so on havebeen reported one after another (Table 2). Since many undescribed species have been recently reported(among those, 11 species have been described as new species in 2007 and later), it seems that the species
diversity in this area might be greater than is currently recognized. Moreover, the fact that a number ofspecies that are not found in the coral reefs of the Kerama and the Yaeyama Islands inhabit the Oura Bay
depicts well the uniqueness of this area.
2. In the whole area of the Oura Bay, diverse habitats neighboring each other construct a rich
ecosystem. Those diverse habitats include natural rivers flowing from the dense subtropical forest,
mangrove forests developing in the estuaries, natural coasts (sandy beaches and rocky shores) and tidal
flats bordering the bay, well-developed coral reefs with seaweed fields developing inside the reefs, andthe deep bottoms with fine-sand, muddy, and boulder beds. All these habitats together constitute a very
distinctive ecosystem that is found only here in the country. The value of this ecosystem is all highlighted
by vast seagrass beds where the feeding trails of dugong have been found, the seaweed bed of a giantbrown macroalga (Sargassum carpophyllum) which grows up to 7 meters height, shallow waters with
scattered large colonies of the massive corals (Porites), a huge colony of the blue coral (Heliopora), finesand bottom inhabited by many heart urchins and sea cucumbers, and a river with the greatest number ofdiadromous fish species in Okinawa Island, all highlighting the value of this ecosystem. Recently it has
been reported that there are dugongs that move long distance and it can be said that the dugongs ofOkinawa Island have a connection with those of the Philippines. This view suggests the importance tocontinue preserving well the ecosystem of sea grass as the habitat of the dugong.
Considering the survey result mentioned above and viewing from a perspective of biodiversity
conservation, the whole area of the Oura Bay is one of the most valuable coastal waters in Japan.
Concerning the landfill plan of this area, the environmental impact assessment report (theenvironmental impact assessment report after amendments) based on the Environmental Impact
Assessment Law has been submitted in December 2012. The assesment report concludes that“consideration for environmental conservation is appropriate and it has determined to have achieved
consistency with the criteria or goals of environmental conservation”, but neither mention the unrecorded
or undescribed species that have been recently discovered (Table 2), nor assess properly the peculiarity ofthis coastal area harboring the diverse habitats.
Therefore, based on the recognition of the above-mentioned, in the joint names of the 19 academic
societies (or its subordinate organization as a committee of the environmental protection department)
which is a scientific group whose members are engaged in natural history research, we request theGovernment of Japan and the Prefecture of Okinawa to implement the following:
1. To review all the procedures for the landfill work, from the perspective of sustainable development
to include passing on the environment and ecosystem to the next generation.
2. To conduct a complete assessment by carrying out survey about the items (diversity ofinvertebrates species whose taxonomic study has not progressed sufficiently and peculiarity of thisarea) missed during the environmental impact assessment.
The 19 Societies Group :Ecological Society of Japan, Natural Environment Conservation Committee of the Japanese Associationof Benthology, The Ornithological Society of Japan, The Fish Society of Japan, The IchthyologicalSociety of Japan, The Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology, The Entomological Society of Japan, TheSociety for the Study of Species Biology, Japanese Society of Phycology, Japanese Society for Plant
Systematics, The Society for the Study of Phytogeography and Taxonomy, Japanese Association ofHistorical Botany, Palynological Society of Japan, Primate Society of Japan, The Japan Society ofMedical Entomology and Zoology, The Genetics Society of Japan, Biogeographical Society of Japan, The
Japanese Society of Limnology, The Zoological Society of Japan, The Association for the GeologicalCollaboration in Japan (in random order )Attachments
Table1. Number of recorded and endangered species of the taxa (marine organisms and water birds)
published in the environmental impact assessment report.
Table2. Noteworthy species recently reported in Henoko-Oura Bay.

Table 1. Number of recorded and endangered species of the taxa (marine organisms andwater birds) published in the environmental impact assessment report.
TaxonomicGroupMammal
Waterbird***
ReptileTotal
numberofspecies

1

Number of endangered species*★CR+EN VU

NTDD

LP

128

8

9

1

4

Fish

1,040

23

Reef-building
coral425

1
13Mollusk

1,974

19

47

58

10

Arthropod

753

310

22

6

Other animal

701

112

1

Remark (contents ofCR＋EN, etc.)
dugong (naturaltreasure)roseate tern, colony ofblack collar tern
Green turtleScartelaos histophorus,
Taenioides sp.
Eretica tomlini, Mactra
sp. A, Mactra sp. B,
Tellina virgata,
Lunulicardia
hemicardium, etc.
Boninpagurus sp. etc, 41species of Coenobita
species are considered
natural treasure

Marine alga/seaweed

403

6

1226

13

Total

5,334

32

85

109

34

Vaucheria longicaulis,
Pseudodichotomosiphon
constricta, Acetabularia
caliculus, Lamouroux,
acetabulária, Caliculus
lamouroux

2*The ranking of endangered species follows the classification of Ministry of the Environment (the4th Red List), Prefecture of Okinawa (Reviewed Edition of Red Data Okinawa) and the Japanese
Association of Benthology**.
** Japanese Association of Benthology, 2012,” Threatened Animals of Japanese Tidal Flats: Red
Data Book of Seashore Benthos” published by Tokai University Press, Kanagawa Prefecture*** Birds are classified as terrestrial organisms in the environment impact assessment report. Here,
only water birds that seem to be most seriously affected by the landfill of the coastal water(Charadriidae, Recurvirostridae, Scolopacidae, Laridae) are included.
★

(CR) Critically Endangered(EN) Endangered(VU) Vulnerable(NT) Near Threatened(DD) Data Deficient(LP) Threatened Local Population

Table 2. Noteworthy species recently reported in Henoko-Oura Bay
TaxonomicGroup

Cnidarian

Mollusk

Arthropod

FishBryozoa

Echinoderm

NameReason

Microzoanthus kagerou

New family, new genus, newspecies

Heliopora coerulea

Noteworthy population

Goniopora stokesi

Noteworthy population

Semelangulus lacrimadugong

New species

Hypermastus ryukyuensis

New species

Uruma ourana

New genus new species

Cuapetes lacerate

Species recorded for the firsttime in Japan

Periclimenes incertus

Species recorded for the firsttime in Japan

Paralbunea takedai*New species

Leucothoe obuchii

New species

Arcania novemspinosa

Species recorded for the firsttime in Japan

Cardiodectes shini

New species

Paratrypae maldivensis

Species recorded for the firsttime in Japan

Processa affinisSpecies recorded for the firsttime in Japan

Processa filipes*

New species

Processa hayashii

New species

Rayllanassa rudisulcus

New species

Scartelaos histophorus

Noteworthy population

Gnatholepis yoshinoi

New species

Lanceopora sp.

Undescribed species

2 undescribed species of sea cucumber
6 species recorded for the first time in Japan

Undescribed species

Heterometra quinduplicava

Species recorded for the firsttime in Japan

Sargassum carpophyllum

Noteworthy population

4 undescribed species of marine algae

Undescribed species

Marine alga

*Species recorded exclusively in this area (As of September, 2014)

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