Selected Papers

22

No.

March 2018

Director's Message
As mankind moves into the 21st century, integrated policies of ocean governance arenecessary for the sustainable development and use of our oceans and their resources
and for the protection of the marine environment.
Towards this end, the Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace
Foundation (formerly: Ocean Policy Research Foundation until March 31st, 2015)
orients its research on ocean issues in line with the mission statement "Living in Harmony with the Oceans".
The Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation aims to
conduct cross-sectoral research in ocean related issues in order to initiate debate on
marine topics and to formulate both domestic and international policy proposals.
We publish a Japanese-language newsletter titled the "Ocean Newsletter" (previously
known as "Ship & Ocean Newsletter") twice a month. "Ocean Newsletter Selected
Papers No.22" contains English-language versions of papers from the JapaneseNewsletter edition, published from No.391 (2016.11.20) to No.410 (2017.9.5).
The Ocean Newsletter seeks to provide people of diverse viewpoints and backgroundswith a forum for discussion and to contribute to the formulation of maritime policies
conducive to coexistence between mankind and the ocean.
Our Foundation believes that the newsletter can expand effective communication onthese issues by introducing timely research abroad to an informed readership. It also
welcomes responses from readers, some of which appear in the Newsletter.
It is our sincere hope that these Selected Papers will provide useful insights on policy
debate in Japan and help to foster global policy dialogue on various ocean issues.
Atsushi SUNAMI
President■T h e N ew s l e t t e r E d i t o r i a l C o m m i t t e e●Chief Editors

Kaoru KUBOKAWA

Project Professor, The University of Tokyo, Ocean Alliance, Research Center for Marine Education

Shigeki SAKAMOTO

Professor, Faculty of Law, Doshisha University●Members

Tomoya AKIMICHI

Director-General, Yamanashi Prefectural Fujisan World Heritage Center

Naoya OKUWAKI

President, Japan Society of Ocean Policy

Shin KISUGIExecutive Trustee, President, The Open University of Japan / President, Japanese Association for Coastal Zone Studies

Shinji SATO

Professor, The University of Tokyo

Yoichi SUMI

Visiting Professor, The Open University of Japan

Minako TAKIZAWA
Science Journalist

Kunio MIYASHITA

Professor, Department of Foreign Studies, Kansai Gaidai University

Toshio YAMAGATA

President, Japan Marine Science Foundation

Haruko YAMASHITA

Professor, Department of Economics, Daito Bunka University■P u b l i s h e r

Atsushi SUNAMI

President, Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF)

The Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation
The Sasakawa Peace Foundation Bldg., 1-15-16 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN 105-8524
Tel. 81-3-5157-5210/Fax. 81-3-5157-5230 E-mail. oceannewsletter@spf.or.jp
URL. https://www.spf.org/opri/©2018 The Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●2

Contents
The Integration of Container-shipping Operations by
Three Japanese Shipping Firms and the Start of a New Alliance
Takayuki MORI

4

Professor, University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences(Ocean Newsletter No. 393, 20 December 2016)

The Nippon Foundation’s Ocean Innovation Consortium
Mitsuyuki UNNO

7

Executive Director, The Nippon Foundation(Ocean Newsletter No. 394, 5 Jananuary 2017)

On the Frontline of Research on Microplastics in the Ocean
Atsuhiko ISOBE

9

Professor, Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University(Ocean Newsletter No. 397, 20 February 2017)

Towards the Sustainable Revitalization of Communities
Affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake
Hisao HASHIMOTO

11

City Council Member, Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture(Ocean Newsletter No. 398, 5 March 2017)

Birth of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC)
Dae-Yeon MOON

13

Executive Secretary, North Pacific Fisheries Commission(Ocean Newsletter No. 400, 5 April 2017)

What the World’s Oldest Fishing Hook Tells Us about the Livesof Paleolithic People in Okinawa
Masaki FUJITA

15

Researcher, National Museum of Nature and Science (formerly Curator, Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum)(Ocean Newsletter No. 400, 5 April 2017)22

S e l e c t e d P a p e r s No.

March 2018

50 Years Since the Start of Japan Meteorology Agency’s Repeat
Hydrographic Observations Along 137°E
Toshiya NAKANOJapan Meteorological Agency /Head, Marine Environment Monitoring and Analysis Center, Global Environment and Marine Department

17(Ocean Newsletter No. 402, 5 May 2017)

The Antarctic Ross Sea to become the World’s Largest Marine Protected Area
— Its True Meaning
Joji MORISHITA

19

Professor, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology(Ocean Newsletter No. 403, 20 May 2017)

Exploring Oceans and Life in the Solar System
Yasuhito SEKINE

21

Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo(Ocean Newsletter No. 406, 5 July 2017)

Review: 10 Years Since the Establishment of the Basic Act on Ocean Policy
Keizo TAKEMIMember, House of Councillors (Liberal Democratic Party); Lead Facilitator, Strategic Study Group on the Basic Act on Ocean Policy

23(Ocean Newsletter No. 407, 20 July 2017)

Hopes for Science and Technology Innovation Aimed at Achieving SDGs
Atsushi SUNAMI

Vice President, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)/
President, Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF)

26(Ocean Newsletter No. 407, 20 July 2017)

Ocean Floor Topography Survey in Micronesia, and the Future
View of International Cooperation in the Oceans
Yoshihisa KAWAMURA

Senior Coordinator for International Cooperation, Planning Department, JAMSTEC

28(Ocean Newsletter No. 409, 20 Aug 2017)●The affiliation of the author and the contents of the article are exactly as they appear in the Ocean Newsletter.

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●3

The Integration of Container-shipping Operations by
Three Japanese Shipping Firms and the Start of a New Alliance[KEYWORDS] economy of scale / competitive environment / M&A (mergers and acquisitions) in the shipping industry

Takayuki MORI
Professor, University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences(Ocean Newsletter No. 393, 20 December 2016)

Amid the continued slump in the maritime transport market, since 2015 there have been significant
merger and acquisition activities in the shipping industry, aimed at the enlargement of operation
scales in order to increase competitiveness. Also, South Korean industry giant Hanjin Shipping filed
for bankruptcy in August. Under such circumstances, three Japanese shipping firms announced
the integration of their container-shipping operations this past October 31st. The structure of thecontainer ship industry is experiencing changes on a global scale.

Introduction2016 was a tumultuous year for the container shipping
industry, with a succession of big news stories. In February, the Chinese government oversaw a merger between
COSCO Group and the China Shipping Group to form the
China COSCO Shipping Group. In June, Hapag-Lloydof Germany and UASC of the Middle East announced amerger of container shipping operations. In July, CMACGM of France acquired APL of Singapore, and in August,the South Korean industry giant Hanjin Shipping filed forbankruptcy. And then, on October 31st, three Japanese
shipping firms – Kawasaki Kisen, Mitsui OSK and Nippon Yusen – announced that they would integrate theircontainer shipping operations. In the space of one year, thenumber of container shipping majors around the world had
dropped from 18 to 12.
Container shipping is currently being operated under analliance system. As such, the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping sent shock waves throughout the whole industry, par■ Fig.1 Changing scale of operations by the world’ s container shipping firms(Source: Compiled from Daily CARGO, Nov. 1, 2016.11.1)

PIL

Hyundai MM

UASC

Kawasaki Kisen

Nippon Yusen

APL

Yang Ming

OOCL

Mitsui OSK

Hanjin Shipping

CSCL

Hamburg Süd

COSCO

Evergreen

Hapag-Lloyd

MSC

CMA-CGM

Maersk Line

September 2015
Unit: TEUPILHyundai MM

Yang Ming

OOCL

Hamburg Süd

Evergreen

3 Japanese firms

Hapag-Lloyd (+UASC)COSCO (+CSCL)

CMA

MSC

Maersk Line

October 2016
Unit: TEU

ticularly among members of the same alliance. The seriesof business mergers and acquisitions mentioned above will
have the effect of promoting structural change not only inthe alliance system but also in the industry as a whole. In
this paper, I will explore the background to this reorganization of the container shipping industry as well as its future.

Background to the integration of container
shipping operations
In simple terms, what lay behind the reorganization of
the industry was a cargo capacity oversupply owing to
declining movements of goods and the increasing size ofcontainer ships. With the dramatic growth of the Chinese
economy from around the end of the 20th century, theworld’s trade volume expanded hugely. Encouraged by thisexpansion, many shipping firms took steps to enlarge theiroperational scale. Even with a significant decrease in goods
movements following the Lehman Brothers collapse, container ships were getting progressively larger. As there wasno decrease in cargo capacity, the gap between supply anddemand thus grew ever wider. Following the first recession
in 2009 after the Lehman Brothers collapse, the shipping
industry was hit by two more in 2011 and 2016.
These had a massive impact on the industry. In container
shipping operations by the three Japanese shipping firms,
losses were only avoided three times by Kawasaki Kisenin their accounts over the last nine years, twice by Nippon
Yusen and just once by Mitsui OSK, underlining the harshness of the situation. And Japanese shipping firms were notthe only ones in this situation. The two South Korean giants
Hyundai Merchant Marine and Hanjin Shipping both fell
into business difficulties, culminating in bankruptcy for thelatter.
While the decline in movements of goods was partly
blamed on the deceleration of the Chinese economy, afactor that cannot be overlooked is change in the trade
structure. In the past, raw materials and components used
to be supplied to emerging economies, mainly by Japanesemanufacturers, and products would be assembled locally.
Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●4

The Integration of Container-shipping Operations by
Three Japanese Shipping Firms and the Start of a New Alliance
Many of these products were then exported. Recently,
however, companies have been shifting to an integrated
system whereby many of the components are sourced andassembled locally, and many of the final products are also
marketed and consumed locally. This is having an impact
on maritime cargoes.
The competition to enlarge container ships is thought tohave started when Maersk Line of Denmark introduced an
18,000 TEU ship in 2013. There are currently 5,230 container ships plying the waters, and 239 or about 5% of these
are large vessels of 12,000 TEU or more. In terms of transportation capacity, these account for 18% of the total. There
are also 38 super-large container ships with 18,000 TEU
or more. Of container ships ordered for construction, 134
are vessels in the class of 12,000 TEU or more, and 40% of
those are the 19,000 TEU type. In 2017, fifteen 20,000 TEU
ships will be completed, including six for Mitsui OSK.
Container shipping companies first attempted to survive
in a harshly competitive environment through cost-cutting
measures based on building larger vessels. The next strategy after this was to survive through “economy of scale.”This has led to the progressive consolidation seen in thecontainer ship industry since last year.
However, the three Japanese shipping firms were slightly
different from these global trends. Many foreign shipping
firms specialize in container ships, or adopt a businessmodel close to that. By contrast, the three Japanese shipping firms are general shipping companies with many otherbusiness interests in addition to container shipping operations, such as bulk shipping, tankers, car carriers and LNG
tankers. They operate under the so-called “department store
model,” with a structure whereby deficits in container shipping operations are covered by profits in other divisions.
My surmise is that they embarked on the present businessintegration because they no longer had sufficient margin tocompensate for losses in their container shipping operations
based on profits in other divisions.
The three Japanese shipping firms are at the top end of
the industry in each of the respective vessel types, i.e., carcarriers, LNG tankers, bulk shipping, tankers, etc. The only
exception to this is container ships, and the firms must have
known that these were an Achilles heel common to all threeof them. One cannot help feeling that they were already one
or two steps behind the global trend.

Impact on alliances and future outlook forcontainer shipping operations
The framework of existing alliances will inevitablychange as a result of this series of mergers and acquisitions.
Since all three of these Japanese shipping firms are mem-

■Fig. 2 The new alliance system and a comparison of cargo capacity
Unit: TEU

2M
Alliance name2M
Ocean Alliance
THE Alliance

Ocean Alliance

THE Alliance

Participating companies
Maersk Line, MSC, Hyundai MM
CMA-CGM, COSCO, OOCL, Evergreen
3 Japan firms, Hapag-Lloyd, Yang Ming

(Source: Compiled from Daily CARGO, Nov. 1, 2016)bers of “THE Alliance,” which is due to start next year, thepresent business integration will have no direct impact on
the alliance.
The new framework for the container ship industry willconsist of three major alliance systems – 2M, Ocean Alliance, and THE Alliance. Hyundai MM’s choice of alliance
was a subject of some concern, but it decided to join 2M forthe time being. Hanjin Shipping had been due to join THE
Alliance, but that is now uncertain after its bankruptcy. The
container shipping industry is thus a monopoly consistingof three alliances, and surviving as an independent entity
is seen as difficult. In this sense, the future movements ofHamburg Süd of Germany 1) and PIL of Singapore, which
do not belong to any of the three big alliances, are attracting
considerable interest.

Conclusion
After integrating their container shipping operations,the scale of these three Japanese shipping firms is the 6thlargest in the industry. Their operational scale (transportation capacity) is 1.38 million TEU, and their market shareis only about 7%; even including ships completed in 2017,
it is only 1.7-1.8 million TEU. Maersk Line, the industry’s
No.1, has an operational scale of 3.17 million TEU and amarket share of 16%, making it twice the size of the three
Japanese shipping firms put together. The world’s container
shipping firms can be classified by scale into (i) those with
an operational scale of 2-3 million TEU and a share of morethan 10%, (ii) those with a scale of 1.0-1.5 million TEU anda share of 5-10%, and (iii) those with a scale of less than 1
million TEU and a share of less than 5%. Of these, the three
Japanese shipping firms belong to group (ii), not the topgroup. In order to survive in the container shipping industry, they will surely need to break into the top group.
A cost reduction of 110 billion yen is envisaged as the
economic benefit of the integration, but this will not be easy
to achieve. The business management of general shipping
companies and container specialist shipping firms until now
has not necessarily been the same. Unless differences of
Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●5

The Integration of Container-shipping Operations by
Three Japanese Shipping Firms and the Start of a New Alliancecorporate culture, staffing issues and many other problems
can be resolved, the cost reduction of 110 billion yen could
just be a pie in the sky. What must be avoided above all isallowing too many cooks in the kitchen.
With these differences in alliance scale, movements ofunaffiliated shipping firms, and other issues, the reorganization of the industry still has some way to go.
■1) On December 2, 2016, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on the acquisition of Hamburg Süd by Maersk Line.

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●6

The Nippon Foundation’s Ocean Innovation Consortium[KEYWORDS] offshore development / human resource development / multi-sector collaboration

Mitsuyuki UNNO
Executive Director, The Nippon Foundation(Ocean Newsletter No. 394, 5 Jananuary 2017)

On October 4th, 2016, the Nippon Foundation launched “the Ocean Innovation Consortium,” aplatform with the aim of developing human resources for offshore development, in collaboration
with industry, academia, and the government. The consortium is drawing interest as an all-Japan
initiative for the strategic development of the offshore industry, which is expected to show great
gains in the future.

Massive latent potential of the offshore
industry
The oceans that cover about 70% of the earth’s surface
are home to many precious resources, and the markets forthese are huge. The offshore oil and gas development market, in particular, is attracting global investments of some
30 trillion yen every year. This is forecast to grow further
still in the medium to long term, with some predicting an
investment scale of 50 trillion yen in 2030.
The oceans not only contain fossil fuels; in response toheightened concern over global warming, the development
of offshore renewable energy is also advancing. Offshore
wind power generation is growing rapidly, particularly inEurope, with the investment scale currently at more than 2
trillion yen. This is forecast to grow even more in future,including in Japan’s coastal waters.
Over the medium to long term, there is potential forresource development in Japan as well. Methane hydrate
reserves, hydrothermal deposits, rare earth sludge andmanganese nodules all exist in Japan’s coastal waters. For
example, reserves of methane hydrate in the eastern Nankai Trough sea area alone cover an area of 1.1 trillion m3,
equivalent to about 10 years’ consumption of natural gas inJapan. If the development of these resources could be commercialized, it would surely open the door to huge business
opportunities.

Current situation of the offshore industry, andthe need for human resources
Japanese companies also have great expectations for theoffshore development sector. So far, however, Japaneseparticipation in this market has been extremely limited. For
example, Japanese companies’ share of global investment
in offshore oil and gas development amounts to only about
1%. If Japan’s offshore industry were to be developed andsales were to grow to five times the present level in future,
the scale would be more than 2 trillion yen. Considering
Japan’s technological potential, this is certainly an attainable target.
On the other hand, attaining this target will depend on
securing highly capable human resources. According to asurvey by The Nippon Foundation, some 2,200 technicians
work in offshore development for Japan’s main companies,
but in order to attain the target, this number will need to be
increased five-fold to the 10,000 level. The offshore industry involves a combination of many projects, and in order
to execute these projects properly, technicians need a broad
range of knowledge in addition to their specialist expertise.
Moreover, the skills required are now growing even morediverse and specialized, in response to heightened concern
over reducing environmental impact, and intensified safetymeasures in response to the increasing depths of development in recent years, serious accidents in the Gulf of Mexico, and so on.
In view of this, human resources need to be developed
strategically with a long-term perspective, starting withstudents as well as working professionals, in order to secure
the technicians needed for offshore development in future.
In the case of students, the following issues will need to beresolved before human resources can be developed.
(i)The offshore industry is not seen as attractive by young
people (students).
(ii)Although it is important to accumulate experiencein the field, including operations, there is no such field inJapan.
(iii)There is no curriculum that teaches offshore development technology in an interdisciplinary and comprehensive
manner.
(iv)The mechanism for bridging the divide (encouraging collaboration) between students and companies isinadequate.
(v)There is no system of human resource developmentthat matches corporate needs in order to solve the above
issues.

Background to the launch of the Consortium
and an outline
At The Nippon Foundation, we see offshore development as a sector that will trigger huge growth in Japan’s
marine industries in future. As such, we have played a central role in leading the discussion from the outset. In 2013,
we set up an “Offshore Development Capacity Building

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●7

The Nippon Foundation’s Ocean Innovation Consortium
experience seminars aboard the deep sea drilling vessel“Chikyu” and the floating offshore wind farm “Haenkaze.”
Participants are sent to summer schools at universities overseas and internships in overseas companies. Students whotake part in these seminars and schools receive “Certificatesof Completion,” so that prospective employers can “see”
what the students have learnt when recruiting staff, etc. In
addition, students who attend summer schools and otherprograms are recognized as “Nippon Foundation Ocean
Innovation Consortium Fellows,” and are given the role ofconveying the attraction of the industry to their peers andjuniors. More details on these and various other activities
can be found on our special Consortium website (http://
www.project-kaiyoukaihatsu.jp/).

Press conference on the launch of The Nippon Foundation Ocean Innovation Consortium(October 4, 2016)

Research Committee” with the aim of discussing how tocreate a system of human resource development. As wellas identifying the issues mentioned above, the Committee
drew up measures to address them, in the form of proposals. Based on the recognition that a platform for turning the
proposals into action was required, in May 2015 we set up
a Consortium Founding Members Group consisting of key
persons in political and financial circles, and started fullfledged approaches to industry, academia and government.
In parallel with these developments, Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe strongly advocated the need to create a consortium in
his speech at the Marine Day commemorative ceremonythat year. Then, following coordination among the parties
concerned, “The Nippon Foundation Ocean Innovation
Consortium” was launched on October 4, 2016 as an allJapan platform comprising twelve of Japan’s leading offshore development related companies, fourteen universities
and four public bodies. The Consortium would be chairedby Nippon Foundation Chairman Yohei Sasakawa, withKoji Miyahara, a Board Counselor at Nippon Yusen, andYuichiro Ichikawa, President of Japan Drilling, as Vice
Chairmen, and with the Secretariat provided by The Nippon
Foundation.
As for an outline of the Consortium, its targets are university undergraduates, graduate students, and young professional technicians. As specific examples of initiatives
aimed at students, we hold orientation seminars designed toconvey the attractions of offshore industries, while students
learn about the technology of offshore development in fieldStudents who took partin a summer school

A scene from a field experience seminar on offshoredevelopment technology

Initiatives for the future
In future, we will continue to promote initiatives in theConsortium that are tailored to corporate needs, and willdevelop talented young technicians. Also, by communicating our outcomes widely, with the cooperation of ourFellows and partner companies, we plan to increase thenumber of motivated students who want to study offshoredevelopment (i.e., broaden our student base). Finally, witha view to strengthening technical abilities as well as developing human resources, we will prepare new collaborative
programs with universities and companies in pioneering
areas like Norway, Scotland, and Houston, Texas.
The Nippon Foundation aims to play a full role as a facilitator, in collaboration with Consortium Members and otherstakeholders as well as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism.
■
Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●8

On the Frontline of Research on Microplastics in the Ocean[KEYWORDS] microplastics / harmonization and standardization of monitoring methods / marine debris

Atsuhiko ISOBE
Professor, Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University(Ocean Newsletter No. 397, 20 February 2017)

Plastic marine debris floating in the ocean go through a repeated process of degradation andfragmentation, eventually becoming minute bits called microplastics. If marine organisms
mistakenly consume these microplastics, there is the possibility that contaminated matter
adhering to the surface of the microplastics will be ingested and developmental problems arise.
In comparison with other areas, the East Asia ocean region has been identified as a hot spot, bya degree of magnitude, for microplastics floating in the ocean. Along with the standardization andharmonization of monitoring methods, countries in the region must coordinate efforts in order togain a better understanding regarding the current situation of floating microplastics, and formulate
projections for the future.

Microplastics floating in the ocean andenvironmental burdens
Waste plastics account for around 70% of coastal driftingdebris. They become progressively degraded by exposure
to ultraviolet light and changes in temperature, and break
up into fragments under the additional impact of physicalstimuli. Eventually these plastic fragments are returnedto the sea by tides and wave motion, then drift back to thecoasts once more in a repeated cycle. During this process,fragmentation must gradually progress. Beaches with multicolored plastic fragments mixed with the sand are no longer
an unusual sight (Photo 1).
Plastic fragments reduced in size to less than 5mm arecalled microplastics. Once they shrink to this size, theycan easily enter marine ecosystems when mistaken forfood. In fact, microplastics have recently been discovered
inside a variety of living organisms collected in actual sea
areas, from whales to zooplankton. In seawater, persistentorganic pollutants are spread so thinly as to be normallyharmless, but these easily adhere to the surface of floating
microplastics. There are reports that these pollutants areingested efficiently by living organisms when microplastics■Photo 1
Minute plastic fragments mixed with beach sand. Photographed by the author’s group on
Ishigaki Island.

are mistakenly consumed. It has also been pointed out that,
although these plastics are not toxic in themselves, they do
not promote growth either. As a result, they could inhibit
the growth of marine organisms that repeatedly mistakethem for food.
However, research on the degree of damage to marineorganisms is still a work in progress. There have been
no reports of environmental risks caused by microplastics becoming manifest in actual sea areas. This must be
because the volume of floating microplastics is still relatively small. But while waste plastics will continue to bedischarged into our oceans in future, plastics do not easily
biodegrade in nature. In other words, this world is a culde-sac for waste plastics, and floating microplastics in theocean could increase in future. Our attention here should
be on the future environmental risk of “marine plastic pollution” if the concentration of floating plastics continues toincrease unabated.

The front line of microplastics research
But how many microplastics are floating in the world’s
oceans in the first place? Even if their impact on marineorganisms can be verified, it is not sufficiently persuasive todesign experiments on the assumption of floating volumes
not supported by observed data. Ascertaining the volumeof floating microplastics in actual oceans and formulating
projections for the future could be seen as two of the mostimportant research tasks in connection with microplastics. However, it was only very recently that microplastics
started to be recognized as marine pollutants. Given the
short history of research so far, there is still not enoughuniformity in the methods of observation and analysis. In
papers published over the last few years, there are evendifferences in the units used for expressing the volume offloating microplastics. There is no meaning in comparing
different units, such as comparing the volume expressed as
the number of floating fragments per volume of seawater
Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●9

On the Frontline of Research on Microplastics in the Ocean
x10-3 fragments/m3■Fig.1
Concentration of floating microplastics collected in the Antarctic Ocean by size (number offloating fragments per unit volume of seawater). The letters (a), (b) and (c) written above thebars correspond to photos (a), (b) and (c) of microplastics of the same size. The box in thephotos measures 5mm and the thickness of the axes is 0.3 mm. Quoted from Isobe et al.
(Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2017).

(for example, fragments/m3) with the weight of floating
fragments per area of sea (for example, mg/km2). We will
only be able to compare floating volumes in different sea
areas and create integrated datasets when both the units
and the methods of observation and analysis have been
harmonized.
Fortunately, Japan could be described as a pioneer in sea
area surveys of the volume of floating microplastics. Our
systematic observation, based on oceanographic methods,
is leading the rest of the world; my own group has beensurveying floating volumes in the western Seto Inland Sea
area since around 2010. The Ministry of the Environment,
Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology(TUMSAT), and Kyushu University have been continuously surveying floating volumes in the seas around Japan
since 2014. These are simultaneous surveys of floating
microplastic volumes using two TUMSAT training vessels(Umitaka Maru and Shinyo Maru). Observations are madeat 50 to 100 measurement points that are maintained every
year, a scale not seen in other countries. Observation methods in all sea areas are uniform, while the collected microplastics are exclusively provided for analysis by Kyushu
University. Since 2015, these universities have been joinedby researchers from Ehime University and Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, who have collaborated

in surveys on the volume of floating microplastics andresearch aimed at assessing their impact (Environment
Research and Technology Development Fund of the Ministry of the Environment, project code 4-1502).
These research efforts have revealed that the volume offloating microplastics in East Asian seas around the Japanese archipelago amounts to around 1.7 million fragments/
km2 (3.7 fragments/m3). This is greater than in any other sea
area around the world, by a degree of magnitude. In otherwords, East Asia is a “hotspot” for floating microplastics.
Indeed, the seas of East Asia may be where environmental
burdens caused by microplastics will first become manifest
in future. In 2016, our research group confirmed the presence of microplastics floating in the Antarctic Ocean for the
first time in the world (Fig.1). If these fragments can drift
to the furthest ocean from the centers of consumer culture,
there must no longer be any ocean on earth where there areno floating microplastics.

Expectations of Japan in microplastics
research
At the G7 Elmau Summit in 2015, Japan proposed thatmethods of monitoring marine debris including microplastics should be standardized and harmonized. This was thenincorporated in the Leaders’ Declaration, with the approvalof the other G7 countries. In response, the standardizationand harmonization of monitoring methods was also advocated in the “G7 Environment Ministers’ Toyama Communiqué” following the G7 Toyama Environment Ministers’ Meeting in Toyama in 2016. And at the 6th JapanChina High-Level Consultation on Maritime Affairs heldin December 2016, cooperation between the two countries
in research on microplastics was the fourth of ten mattersraised for agreement. I hope mutual visits between Japaneseand Chinese researchers will be repeated in future, and thata path will be opened up for joint surveys on the volume offloating microplastics in the hotspot of East Asia.
The distribution of microplastics, carried by ocean currents, is expanding with no regard to territorial waters or
exclusive economic zones. The floating volume cannot
be ascertained or future projections attempted through theefforts of one country alone. It is important that monitoring is carried out continuously, and that two- and threedimensional maps of the floating volume in sea areas are
created through data exchanges with other countries. Japan,
located in the hotspot, is expected to play a pioneering rolein microplastics research, while leading the world in standardizing and harmonizing observation methods supported
by scientific knowledge.
■

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●10

Towards the Sustainable Revitalization of Communities
Affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake[KEYWORDS] learning disaster prevention / sustainable revitalization of communities / creating local culture

Hisao HASHIMOTOCity Council Member, Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture(Ocean Newsletter No. 398, 5 March 2017)

In the reconstruction efforts following the Great East Japan Earthquake and Typhoon Lionrock,we believe in the importance of creating local culture as we rebuild our community, while also
continuing efforts to accurately convey the history of the disasters. Our community’s history andculture have deep roots in the region, having been shaped by interactions with its inhabitants’ways of life. Here, I would like to focus on the importance of history within the context of socialchange and reconstruction efforts from disasters, and connect it to further cultural growth.

Introduction
On March 11, 2011, an earthquake struck off the Pacificcoast of Tohoku, causing the disaster known as the Great
East Japan Earthquake – a disaster far beyond all of ourimaginations. Coastal regions were ravaged by a tsunamithat reached heights of more than ten meters, swallowing up whole districts and claiming untold lives. Ports andreclaimed land were largely destroyed by the phenomenonof liquefaction caused by the earthquake, while many solid
tidebreakers and revetments built for protection were also
destroyed.
The tsunami had a massive impact not only on people’s
lives, property and day-to-day living, but also on the naturalenvironment of the shores that had been so carefully maintained by the community until then.
The disaster-affected areas will soon be approaching
their sixth spring since then. Now, various developments
are underway with a view to restoring and reconstructing
the disaster-affected areas, with the main focus being on
rebuilding people’s lives. To make matters worse, coastal
areas of Iwate Prefecture were attacked by Typhoon Lionrock at the end of August last year, causing a “mountaintsunami” comparable with a marine tsunami in river basins
and elsewhere. The havoc it wrought meant that things had
to be rebuilt and reconstructed all over again. But even so,
people are still working desperately to rebuild without los-The Hikage Bridge in the Moichi district of Miyako City was washed away during floods
caused by Typhoon Lionrock.

ing sight of their hope for the future, however long it may
take. I hope it will be understood that the reconstruction of
the disaster-affected areas is by no means complete.

Our humble request to pass on for posterity
The main focus in the reconstruction of the Sanriku coast
should be on sustaining our fertile seas and promoting
our core industry of fisheries, as well as tourism and otherindustries, based on the diverse wishes of residents in each
community. Many of the disaster-affected areas have built
up cultures supported by the produce of the sea. What must
be done to protect lives from tsunamis and to maintain ourclose relationship with the sea? I think we all need to think
about this from a variety of perspectives.
Partly due to ground subsidence caused by the earthquake disaster, our previously beautiful beaches are being
narrowed and hemmed in by concrete tide breakers, andtheir appearance as beaches is gradually being lost. Thosebeaches were formed by sand transported from mountains
to rivers and from rivers to the sea, over a span of hundreds
or thousands of years. Tidelands or beaches with whitesand and green pines used to spread far across Miyako Bay.
Beaches like that were commonplace in our childhood but
now have all but disappeared.
Now that the unnatural landscape of concrete blocks
stretching endlessly around our coasts has become normal, beach revival projects designed to restore beautiful
coasts and beaches is surely something we need to think
about from a variety of perspectives in order to keep living
together with the sea.
I think the path for the next generation should lie in inviting the attention of the world by raising the “world heritage
value” of Sanriku, where we live according to the principleof nature symbolized by the “Mori wa Umi no Koibito”(“The forest is longing for the sea, the sea is longing for theforest”) movement.

How should this disaster be recorded andconveyed to posterity?
As well as teaching us some valuable lessons, this earth-

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●11

Towards the Sustainable Revitalization of Communities Affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake
nami memorials after the Great East Japan Earthquake
consist of marker stones indicating the point reached by
the tsunami, erected by various charitable organizations
that support the disaster-affected areas. The newly erectedtsunami memorials often carry the message of conveying
tsunami experiences to children for the sake of the future.
They are also a new form of folk tradition.

The target of creating local culture

The first “earthquake disaster ruin” in Japan, the former
Taro Kanko Hotel. This is an
important facility for Learning Disaster Prevention.

A tsunami memorial erectedin the Kanehama district of
Miyako. It was erected by
the residents to convey thelessons learned.

quake disaster also helped us to notice a number of things.
Of course, it was a tragedy that we never want to faceagain. But sooner or later, the memory of its horrors will
fade and, in time, will be forgotten. The history of disasters
does not usually remain unless someone makes the effort toaccurately convey it.
Miyako City is offering “Learning Disaster Prevention”
tours for that very purpose. A hotel in the Taro district thatwas damaged by the tsunami has been left as a new “earthquake damage ruin” where the history of the disaster is conveyed. Guides ask “Why don’t people run away?” as theytell the lessons learnt from the disaster in this “Learning
Disaster Prevention” tour. Rather than creating new public
works or systems, or raising breakwaters, they teach us toawaken our individual risk awareness and raise our own“mental breakwaters.”
Although it is now five years since “Learning Disaster
Prevention” started, this kind of tourism helps to increase
the number of visitors to the disaster-affected areas andprevent them from tailing off. A continuous flow of visitors helps to energize the disaster-affected areas. There arealso expectations that the tours will revive economic activity. And for those visitors, we hope that learning how thedisaster-affected areas are being reconstructed will provide
suggestions for future reconstruction.
One means of preventing memories from fading is thetsunami memorial. After the 1933 Sanriku Earthquake,
donations collected by a newspaper company were partly
used to build monuments in memory of the tsunami. Tsu-

As we continue the reconstruction effort, creating local
culture will also be important in future attempts to rebuild
communities. The starting point for rebuilding communities is the culture of that community – its treasure, indeed.
However, many forms of culture are being lost with thechanging times. What’s more, streets and things with atangible shape were destroyed by the tsunami, and some ofthem only remain in people’s memories. In future efforts torebuild communities, I think we will need to start by re-discovering what has been cultivated and accumulated in local
communities as their “treasure,” then properly confirming
and sharing it. An important part of this process will be tohighlight things that have not been visible until now, likethe cultural background and history of our communities.
One kind of culture that helps to form this “treasure”
is the culture of ocean-based communities. Our history
is bound up with salmon, the fishing culture built up by
our forebears, traditional customs, dialects, the history ofships of the Nanbu Fief, the history of shipwrecks leading
to exchanges with Okinawa and Tarama Island, and so on.
Again, in 1745, sailors from Miyako and elsewhere were
washed ashore in Russia, leading to the compilation of a
Russian-Japanese glossary. This later culminated in the
Russian-Japanese dictionary Leksikon (compiled by theirdescendants in 1783, now kept by the Russian Academyof Sciences), an episode that is not very well known. The
language of the shipwrecked sailors was perpetuated in theform of a dictionary, enabling Japanese to be understood in
Russia at the time. It reflected the Iwate coastal dialect, andis a valuable cultural material for research on the dialectsof Japanese at the time. There are numerous other topics
that should be preserved for posterity, such as the Battle of
Miyako Bay, the first western-style sea battle in the modern
era and a defining moment in the Meiji Restoration.
The history and culture of a community are rooted in
its natural features and have been shaped by interaction
with its inhabitants’ ways of life. Based on the multi-tiered
nature of history within the context of social change andreconstruction from disasters, I would like to connect this tofurther cultural growth.
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Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●12

Birth of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC)[KEYWORDS] North Pacific Fisheries Commission(NPFC) / Regional Fisheries Management Organization(RFMO) / fisheries resource management

Dae-Yeon MOON
Executive Secretary, North Pacific Fisheries Commission(Ocean Newsletter No. 400, 5 April 2017)

The North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) was born with the objective of ensuring thelong-term conservation and sustainable use of fisheries resources in the area established by its
convention, while protecting the marine ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean. Complying with therelevant United Nations General Assembly fisheries resolutions, we aim to achieve this objective
through developing Commission work plans including science and compliance, conducting stock
assessments of target species, establishing a data management system, and cooperating withother organizations.

The Fishing Environment in the North Pacific
From ancient times, humans have relied on the oceans
for many reasons mainly for food, economic opportunities, recreation and so on. According to FAO, in 2013, fish
accounted for about 17% of the global population's intake
of animal protein and 6.7% of all protein consumed, andabout 56.6 million people were engaged in the primarysector of capture fisheries and aquaculture in 2014. However, increased human impacts along with rapid population
growth and substantial developments in technology havecontinuously pushed commercial fish stocks and they havedecreased, resulting in significantly lower levels of fish
resources now available. It is not surprising that more than
50% of fish stocks are fully exploited and only about 10%
are underfished stocks.
The North Pacific Ocean where we live is the most productive area in the world due to its surrounding environments, which has allowed the Pacific Rim States to enjoy
the freedom of access to high seas fisheries resources.
More recently agreed international instruments have been
established to conserve and manage these resources forsustainable use for the future. Currently around fifty suchgoverning bodies called Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFB)
or Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO)
focus on high seas fisheries, coastal fisheries, inland fisheries and aquaculture on the world's oceans. However, despite
these numerous RFBs, there have been relatively few suchorganizations in the North Pacific Ocean and it was clearlyrecognized by the UN that there needed to be a bridge inthis region to manage fisheries resources and protect marine
ecosystems. This was the beginning of the birth of theNorth Pacific Fisheries Commission.

Who Are We?
The North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) is aninter-governmental organization, headquartered in Tokyo,
Japan, established by the Convention on the Conservationand Management of the High Seas Fisheries Resources in
the North Pacific Ocean. The objective of the Convention■Fig.1 NPFC Convention Area

is to “ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable useof the fisheries resources in the Convention Area while protecting the marine ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean inwhich these resources occur”. The initial meetings to establish the NPFC commenced in 2006, in accordance with theUnited Nations General Assembly Resolution 59/25 (2004),
60/31 (2005), 61/105 (2006) and it took 9 years of negotiation processes for Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Russia,
Chinese Taipei, USA to reach the point where we are now
a Commission. The Convention was adopted on 24th February 2012 and came into force 180 days after receipt of
the 4th ratification on 19 July 2015. The current Membersof the NPFC include: Canada, China, Japan, Republic ofKorea, the Russian Federation, and Chinese Taipei.

What Do We Do?
Day-to-day running of the Commission is through theSecretariat under the direction of the Executive Secretary.
With support from two professional staff responsible forscientific and compliance matters, the Executive Secretaryassists the Commission Members in the presentation andadoption of conservation management measures (CMMs)
that will govern the fishing practices of their fleets when

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●13

Birth of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC)■Fig.2Major target species of North
Pacific Bottom fisheries. Fromleft to right, North PacificArmorhead, Splendid Alfonsino, Rockfish, Sablefish.

operating in the NPFC Convention Area. The Commission
has two key areas of work, the first being the scientific area
which addresses status of fish species and impacts of fishing activity on fish stocks and marine ecosystems to provide
advice to the Members for sustainable management of theresources and protection of ecosystems. Second, is the compliance component where rules and regulations (CMMs) areendorsed for approval by the Commission for sustainable
management of the resources and ecosystems. Fishing vessels operating in the NPFC Convention Area are monitored
at sea and in port to ensure compliance of their operations
with the agreed regulations/CMMs of the Commission. The
Area of Competence of the NPFC includes the high seasof the North Pacific Ocean. Fisheries resources covered by
the Convention include all the fish, mollusks, crustaceans
and other marine species caught by fishing vessels within
the Convention Area, excluding sedentary species insofar
as they are subject to the sovereign rights of coastal States,
indicator species of vulnerable marine ecosystems, catadromous species, marine mammals, marine reptiles andseabirds, and other marine species already covered by preexisting international fisheries management instruments
within the area of competence of such instruments.
Currently the fish species targeted by the NPFC Members include bottom fish stocks and pelagic fish stocks. As
for bottom fish stocks, in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean,bottom trawl fisheries, bottom gillnet fisheries and bottom
longline fisheries have been conducted over the Emperor
seamounts by Japan, Korea and Russia. The primary target species of the bottom trawl fisheries have been North
Pacific armorhead, and splendid alfonsino, and the primarytarget species of the bottom gillnet fisheries have been
splendid alfonsino, oreo and mirror dory. In the Northeastern Pacific Ocean, four seamount aggregations have been
fished by Canada, via longline hook and longline trap gear.
Since the inception of the fishery, the target species of boththe longline hook and longline trap harvesters has beensablefish. As for pelagic fish stocks, Pacific saury has been
harvested by China, Japan, Korea, Russia and Chinese Taipei. These fleets mainly use stick-held dip nets or lift nets
to catch Pacific saury. While Japanese and Russian vessels
operate mainly within their EEZs, Chinese, Korean andChinese Taipei vessels operate mainly in the high seas of
the North Pacific. Besides Pacific saury, neon flying squid

has been harvested by squid jigging fisheries within theConvention Area. More recently, the chub mackerel fisheryis commencing in the NPFC Convention Area in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.
As a new RFMO, NPFC is now in its early developmental stage of setting up the Secretariat, developing internal
rules and procedures, and liaising and cooperating withother RFMOs to enable exchange of pertinent information on research, processes and operational activities. It isnotable, however, that the NPFC with cooperation of six
Members has made significant progress by adopting important CMMs which include Vessel Registration, limitation
on Pacific saury, listing of IUU fishing activities, interimtransshipment procedures, addressing vessels without
nationality, measures for the management of bottom fisheries and protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs)
in both the Northwestern and Northeastern Pacific Oceans,
and limitation on fishing effort for chub mackerel.

Challenges and Future Plans
As other existing RFMOs, the NPFC also is facing
challenges in attaining its Convention objectives. Among
those are first and foremost commitment of Members andParticipants to good governance, transparency, and sustainable management of renewable marine resources andprotection of the marine ecosystems, which is an absoluteand basic requirement to the success of RFMOs. Leadership for sustainable management by current Commission
officers is also critical to a potential success of the NPFC,
since politics will always play a part in regional resource
management. In addition, understanding the complexityof resources and ecosystems that encompass dependent or
associated species within their larger surrounding environments is also a challenge that the NPFC has to overcomein the short and long-term. In summary, the NPFC, as arecently established RFMO, is fully committed to making
every effort for the conservation and management of highsea fisheries resources in the North Pacific Ocean. This will
be achieved by complying with relevant UNGA fisheries
resolutions, the development of Commission work plansincluding science and compliance, conducting stock assessments of target species, establishing data management system, and cooperation with other organizations.
■

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●14

What the World’s Oldest Fishing Hook Tells Us about the Livesof Paleolithic People in Okinawa[KEYWORDS] shell objects / aquatic resources / Paleolithic people

Masaki FUJITA
Researcher, National Museum of Nature and Science (formerly Curator, Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum)(Ocean Newsletter No. 400, 5 April 2017)

The excavation of Sakitari Cave has shed light on the lifestyles of Okinawa’s Paleolithic people,
which had previously been shrouded in mystery. The excavation revealed an unexpected lifestyle,in which people captured Japanese mitten crabs (mokuzugani) and giant mottled eels from rivers,
fished at sea, and gathered shells to create tools and ornaments. These people were familiar withaquatic resources, to a much further degree than what we had previously imagined.

The riddle of Okinawa’s Paleolithic history
The world’s oldest fishing hook from the Paleolithic era,
dated to 23,000 years before present (BP), was discoveredat the Sakitari Cave Site in Nanjo City, Okinawa Prefecture.
Although one cannot know whether it is directly linked
to modern-day fishing culture, it is somehow uplifting tothink that Paleolithic people were also familiar with fishingactivity.
The popular image of Paleolithic people is one of hunting mammoths and other massive beasts armed only withstone-tipped spears. But how were they to live on islands
where there were no large beasts? Crossing seas to reachislands is an important characteristic of Homo sapiens in
the historical process of spreading all over the world. Inthat case, humans must also have found a way of livingon the islands they reached in this process. Evidence that
Paleolithic people fished for marine produce had alreadybeen discovered in the islands of Southeast Asia, but almost
nothing had been found anywhere else.
Okinawa was no exception; for here, although numerous Paleolithic skeletons such as that of “Minatogawa
Man” (around 20,000 years BP) had been found, there had
only been very few Paleolithic discoveries, and little was
known about the culture and lifestyles of people in those
far off days. But then, a team from the Okinawa Prefectural
Museum & Art Museum (including the author) conducted
an excavation survey at Sakitari Cave, and had the good
fortune to find the object mentioned in the title.

World’s oldest fishing hook found!
Sakitari Cave is located some two kilometers inland fromthe coast at the southern end of Okinawa Island. Amongst
a complex network of caves (known as the Gyokusendo
cave system) formed by the flow of the Yuhi River, it isunusually large and spacious; the floor area measures about
620m2. A refreshing breeze wafts through the cave mouths,
which open to both east and west, and the strong subtropicalsun shining in through the broad opening on the east sidesoftly illuminates the interior. It’s such a pleasant place, infact, that it is now being used as a “cave café.”
People lived in this cave in the Paleolithic era. On sur-

Okinawa
IslandSakitari Cave

Sakitari Cave is locatedsome two kilometers
inland from the southern coast of Okinawa
Island. Although sea
levels decreased during the last glacial
maximum about 20,000
years BP, even then itis thought to have beenaround 5-6 kilometersfrom the coast.

Sakitari Cave seen fromthe eastern cave mouth.
The excavation area ison the right at the backof the photo. Modernday people are enjoying
coffee in a cave where
Paleolithic people once
lived.(Photo by Dr.
Masaki Fujita)

veying deposition layers between 13,000 and 35,000 years
old that still remain in one corner of the cave, we uneartheda continuous stream of charcoal, crab and freshwater snail
shells in very large quantities. When our survey at last
reached the layer dating to 20,000 years BP, we started tomake sporadic finds of human bones and seashells. It wasincontrovertible proof that Paleolithic people had been in
the cave.
As the survey continued amid some excitement, we
noticed that all of the shells were split. When we eat shellfish, we don’t split the shells. Thinking it strange, we carefully observed the surface of the split, and discovered marksthat looked as if the shells had been used to scrape woodor bamboo. Here on Okinawa Island, where stone suited tomaking tools was in scarce supply, it seems as if the Paleolithic people had split the shells and used them as scraping
tools. Beads made by boring holes in small bivalves werealso found. No one involved in the survey had ever imagined that the long-awaited Paleolithic tools and ornaments
might perhaps be made of shell.
Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●15

What the World’s Oldest Fishing Hook Tells Us about the Lives of Paleolithic People in Okinawa
If there were a large cave alongside a river, it would only
be human to want to rest there. Thus it would seem that
Paleolithic people rested in Sakitari Cave while feasting on
mitten crabs.

Paleolithic people enjoyed seasonal foods

The world’s oldest fishing hook. Made by
splitting the base of a Trochidae (sea snail)shell, then polishing the flat part with a whetstone. It has a width of around 14mm.
(Fujita et al., 2016, Photo by Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum)As we continued the survey in amazement, the now
famous fishing hook suddenly appeared. Found in a stratum dating to 23,000 years BP, this hook fashioned fromshell shone iridescently as it caught the light from our headlamps in the dark of the cave. It formed a semi-circular arc,
one end of which was sharp. When we realized, from theshape, that this was a fishing hook, we were speechless.
We had been convinced that Paleolithic people had hunted
deer and wild boar, and had never expected to find a fishinghook.

What did Paleolithic people eat?
However surprising it may have been, the discovery of
the fishing hook meant that Paleolithic people must haveangled for fish. So where were the remains of the fish they
had caught? When we hurriedly re-examined the unearthed
remains, we found that they included two fish bones. A
find of just two fish bones would not normally be accordedmuch importance, but the discovery of the fishing hookchanged all that. In the conviction that there must be morefish bones, we washed all of the excavated earth and pickedout all the fine animal bones, then, all day and every day,worked on sorting these little bones that looked like furikake seasoning. And it paid off, for one after the other, wefound bones of giant mottled eels from a river, as well asJapanese parrotfish, mottled spinefoot and others from thesea.
One should stress that only a few tens of fish bones were
found. Seen in terms of the remains as a whole, this was avery small number; the shells of mitten crabs and freshwater snails were overwhelmingly numerous by comparison.
All of them were partly burnt, and it is beyond doubt thatthey were used as food. Perhaps they had been caught in
the Yuhi River that flows to the west of Sakitari Cave. Mitten crabs are nocturnal, and so have to be caught at night. It
would have been somewhat inconvenient to carry a wholecatch of mitten crabs by hand over long distances at night.

Some may baulk at the use of subjective expressions like“feasting,” but we firmly believe that Okinawa’s Paleolithic
people enjoyed the taste of crab. This is because they only
seem to have visited Sakitari Cave in autumn, when mitten
crabs are in season.
Evidence of seasonal use survives in the shells of freshwater snails. When water temperatures change in line withthe seasons, the oxygen isotope ratio in river water alsochanges. This change is reflected in the shells of freshwatersnails, which grow underwater. In that case, by measuring the oxygen isotope ratio at each millimeter along the
growth line of freshwater snails, we could estimate theseason from the water temperature at the point when thegrowth stopped (in other words, when they were eaten bypeople). The result of this analysis revealed that about 70%of the freshwater snails we investigated had been eaten inautumn and the other 30% or so in summer.
Raised in a rich river environment, mitten crabs all
migrate downstream together on autumn nights in order tospawn in the sea. Having stored up nutrients for reproduction, their bodies are firm and their brown meat plentiful;they are reaching the prime time for eating. Okinawa’s
Paleolithic people seem to have targeted a season whencrabmeat would be delicious. In that case, they must have
known that “mitten crabs are best in autumn.”
Paleolithic people appreciated seasonal mitten crabs andwere practiced in fishing. This is the image of Okinawa’s
Paleolithic people we are now proposing. This image isquite different in character from that of spear-wielding
Paleolithic people bravely hunting massive beasts. But thismore elegant way of life seems better suited to the southern
islands. This was a case of adapting to the environment; itmattered not that there were no big beasts, nor sufficient
resources of stone. Eating food from the river as the seasonsdictate, going out to sea to catch fish, and gathering up theabundant seashells to make fishing hooks, scraping tools
and beads. Paleolithic people seem to have lived a rich lifeon the islands of Okinawa.
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Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●16

50 Years Since the Start of Japan Meteorology Agency’s Repeat
Hydrographic Observations Along 137°E[KEYWORDS] Japan Meteorology Agency hydrographic observations / repeat observations along 137°E / Jotaro Masuzawa

Toshiya NAKANOJapan Meteorological Agency / Head, Marine Environment Monitoring and Analysis Center, Global Environment and Marine Department(Ocean Newsletter No. 402, 5 May 2017)

The Japan Meteorological Agency has conducted repeat hydrographic observations along 137°E
since 1967, and launched the 51st observation with the departure of its research vessel on January
10th, 2017. Not only is the continuation of such a repeat observation unprecedented anywherein the world, but the observation is also known, since the very first time, for releasing its entire
data collection. These data are open for use by all researchers, leading to high acclaim from both
domestic and international organizations working in the ocean field. We believe repeat observations
along 137°E are invaluable assets that should be passed on to future generations.

Repeat hydrographic observations along 137°E
The Japan Meteorology Agency has established a repeat
observation section in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, including the area around Japan, and conducts hydrographic
observations along this section not only on the ocean surface but also below it 1). The most representative of these
repeat observation sections is the one going along 137°E(hereinafter the 137°E section). Observations along this section were started in the winter of 1967 (the year after Ryofu
Maru II came into service), through our participation in the“Cooperative Study of the Kuroshio and Adjacent Regions(CSK),” planned as an official program by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC).
The aim of the program, in which Japan played a central
role, was to observe ocean circulation in the West Pacific,
including the Kuroshio. Dr. Jotaro Masuzawa, who served
as both Director-General of the Japan Meteorology Agency
and President of the Oceanographic Society of Japan inlater years, explained the reason for selecting the 137°E
section as follows: “A observation section that conveniently
crosses the major ocean currents of the North Pacific suchas the Kuroshio and the North Equatorial Current with little
localized impact from islands, sea mounts, etc., enabling
us to observe general variation in large-scale phenomena
as much as possible.” The line extends for about 3,900km
from 34° N off the southeast of Cape Daio on the Shima
Peninsula to 1° S off New Guinea 2).
Dr. Masuzawa was also a researcher who analyzedhydrographic observation data, and was responsible forcoining the term “Subtropical Mode Water,” an importantconcept for understanding climate change 3). In Kuroshio
kyo-do- cho-sa (CSK) to watashi (“The CSK and Me,” Kaiyo
Kagaku, 1978), published about ten years later, he gave an
account of the time when observations were first carriedout. As he recalls, “Even if the purpose was to investigate
large-scale and long-term variation, I always suspected that
not enough could be achieved by observing only once a
year, and I felt that it would take about 30 years before we
could make any value judgments.” In fact, observation dataon the 137°E section over the last 50 years have produced awealth of knowledge through more than a hundred papers
on the structure of the Northwest Pacific, El Niño and otherclimate change phenomena, ocean physics connected withvariation in biogeochemical cycles, and long-term variation in biogeochemistry. This knowledge was even cited
in “The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental■Hydrographic observation stations along 137°E(thin lines are 4,000m isobaths)

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●17

50 Years Since the Start of Japan Meteorology Agency’s Repeat Hydrographic Observations Along 137°E

The R/V Ryofu Maru II. Two research vessels are currently used for the observations – Ryofu
Maru III, which came into service in 1995, and Keifu Maru II.

Panel on Climate Change (2013)”. Our efforts have also
been warmly praised at the international level; at the 2016
annual meeting of the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) held last November, for example, wewere awarded the PICES Ocean Monitoring Service Award(POMA) for long-term ocean monitoring that contributes to
the growth of ocean sciences in the North Pacific. Now thatthe advance of global warming and changes in the global
environment are becoming serious social problems, one isagain full of admiration for the forethought and vision of
Dr. Masuzawa and the others who started observing the137°E section from such a long-term viewpoint.
The parameters observed in those early days were watertemperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrient salts andchlorophyll a, physical parameters and biochemical datathat are still being collected today. In the 1980s, observations of ocean atmosphere and carbon dioxide in surface
seawater were started in order to monitor greenhouse gases
as a cause of global warming, reflecting social trends of thetime. These data have also been accumulated for more than
30 years. Today, we also observe carbonate parameters inseawater (total carbon dioxide, alkalinity, pH) and Chlorofluorocarbons with the aim of further clarifying variation in
the carbon cycle. These observation data are all publishedin Kaiyo- no kenko- shindanhyo- (“Marine Diagnosis Report”)
on the Japan Meteorological Agency website 4).

their part in national and international observation projects.
The most representative of these was our participation in
the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) during
the 1990s. In this project, the 137°E section was positioned
as the one-time observation section “P9” in the Northwest
Pacific area, and we conducted observations at all points
going down to seabed level in 1994 (“P9” was one of justover 30 observation sections established in the Pacific
Ocean). After this, we again conducted observations in2010 and last year (2016), and are currently taking part asa high-frequency observation section in the Global Ocean
Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GOSHIP), and in the Global Ocean Acidification Observing
Network (GOA-ON).

Future hydrographic surveys by research
vessels
In recent years, the main players in hydrographic observations have been shifting to Argo floats 5) and automatic
observing platforms such as space satellites. However,collecting observation data on physical parameters andmany biogeochemical parameters to a high degree of precision from the ocean surface to the seabed still depends on
observing by research vessel. With the advance of global
warming and ocean acidification, long-term observations
by research vessel will continue to be important in detecting minor but important variations in the oceans, as well as
helping to clarify the situations and mechanisms of longterm variation and change. In fact, they will probably be
used even more as data for verifying future prediction models of climate and the global environment. Our observation
data on the 137°E section over these last 50 years should bepreserved for posterity as a precious asset of mankind, andI hope they will remain at the center of hydrographic observations by the Japan Meteorology Agency in future.
■

Surveys of the 137°E section in international
projects
Our observations of the 137°E section have also played1)	See “Oceanographic and Marine Meteorological Observations by Research Vessels” in “Oceanographic Observation” on the Japan Meteorology Agency website (http://www.data.jma.go.jp/
gmd/kaiyou/db/vessel_obs/data-report/html/ship/ship_e.php)
2) Currently goes as far as 3°N.
3)	Subtropical Mode Water: Distributed broadly and thickly in the surface of the Northwest Pacific Ocean south of Japan, it transports heat, carbon dioxide and others from the ocean surface tothe interior (“mode” is a term used in statistics to signify the value that appears most often in a set of data).
4) See http://www.data.jma.go.jp/gmd/kaiyou/shindan/index_obs.html
5) See http://www.jamstec.go.jp/J-ARGO/overview/overview_1.html

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●18

The Antarctic Ross Sea to become the World’s Largest Marine
Protected Area — Its True Meaning[KEYWORDS] marine ecosystems / Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) / fishing ban

Joji MORISHITA
Professor, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology(Ocean Newsletter No.403, 20 May 2017)

In October 2016, parties came to an agreement on establishing the world’s largest marine
protected area (MPA) in the Antarctic Ross Sea. While an MPA gives an image of a permanentand total fishing ban in the area concerned, the Ross Sea MPA in reality includes the gatheringof scientific data through fishing, management and research monitoring plans following theestablishment of the MPA, and periodic review of effectiveness and needs of the MPA.
It remains to be seen whether the Ross Sea MPA will be able to achieve the management required
for the objectives of an MPA in its true meaning, including the conservation of marine ecosystems
and sustainable use of marine living resources based on scientific data.

At the end of October 2016, the BBC and other global
media organizations reported that the world’s largest
marine protected area (MPA) had been established in theRoss Sea Antarctic. The decision to establish the MPA had
been made on October 28th, at the close of the Commission
for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources(CCAMLR), of which Japan is a member. In the media
reports, it was only stated that fishing had been banned for
35 years in a sea area covering 1.57 million square kilometers, that the last untouched nature left on earth would
be protected, and that the (then) US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry and the New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray
McCully had praised the decision.
On the other hand, the establishment of the Ross Sea
MPA was also met with a sense of alarm, particularly
among fishery-related concerns; some asked why Japan had
not opposed the decision.
When an MPA is being proposed, a debate is often heldin the context of whether to protect fisheries or the marine
environment, and this tends to produce conflict. In thisarticle, I will explain the circumstances surrounding MPAs,
with particular reference to the content of the Ross Sea
MPA.

What is a marine protected area (MPA)?
When we hear about an MPA, we often tend to think of it
as a sea area where fishing and other human activity is permanently banned. In fact, during the five-year negotiations
on the proposed Ross Sea MPA, CCAMLR participants,
including myself, received numerous appeals by email
every year from members of the public and individuals connected with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), suchas the following:“Please create a legacy for humanity by agreeing at
CCAMLR in 20XX to large scale, permanent, marine protected areas and no-take marine reserves in Antarctica's
Ross Sea region and East Antarctica. Antarctica's waters
are a remarkable home for wildlife and include some of theleast impacted parts of the world's oceans. We're relying
on our leaders to show leadership to protect our oceans for
future generations.”
The goals of establishing MPAs have been agreed atmeetings of various international bodies. For example, theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), held
in Johannesburg in 2002, ruled that a representative network of MPAs would be established by 2012 (for example,
in cases where the migratory routes of protected species arecovered by more than one MPA, though no definition has
been agreed). Again, the 10th Conference of Parties to theConvention on Biological Diversity (CBD), held in Nagoya
in 2010, set the target of protecting 10% of coastal andmarine areas by 2020, particularly when they are of great
importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The image produced by all this is that an MPA meansthat fishing is permanently banned over an extensive area
in order to protect ocean environments and marine ecosystems, with numerical targets like 2020 and 10% of sea areas
being set.
But how do the various international bodies feel about
MPAs, and how do they define them?
The International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN), famous for its red list of endangered species,
defined an MPA as follows in 1994: “Any area of intertidal
or subtidal terrain, together with its overlying water andassociated flora, fauna, historical and cultural features,
which has been reserved by law or other effective means
to protect part or all of the enclosed environment.” Meanwhile, the 7th Conference of Parties to the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2004 agreed on the definition, “any defined area within or adjacent to the marine
environment, together with its overlying waters and associated flora, fauna and historical and cultural features, which
has been reserved by legislation or other effective means,including custom, with the effect that its marine and/or
coastal biodiversity enjoys a higher level of protection thanits surroundings.”
Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●19

The Antarctic Ross Sea to become the World’s Largest Marine Protected Area — Its True Meaning
Although these are complicated descriptions, what should
be stressed here is that neither of these makes any mentionof the concept of a total fishing ban; they focus instead on
flexibility in the degree of protection, as implied by theexpression “a higher level of protection than its surroundings.” This interpretation is supported by the categorization of MPAs by IUCN. According to this, diverse formats
including the use of resources are recognized within thescope of MPA categories, from strict nature reserves managed for science or wilderness protection, to national parksand other protected areas managed for ecosystem protection
and recreation, and managed resource protected areas forsustainable use of natural resources.

The Ross Sea MPA
So what about the Ross Sea MPA, whose establishment
has now been agreed? As shown on the map below, theRoss Sea MPA involves a complex combination of sea
areas with different objectives and different functions; it
is not simply a case of applying a fishing ban over a wide
sea area. The various boundary lines are based on scientificdata, corresponding for example to the seabed ecosystemthat needs protecting. In the Special Research Zone (SRZ),
fishing of toothfish (such as Patagonian toothfish) and krill
is permitted, and scientific data are gathered through thosefishing operations. In the Krill Research Zone (KRZ), again,
the aim is to gather data from fishing operations. And whilefishing is banned in the general prohibition areas (marked(i), (ii) and (iii) on the map), marine ecosystems, etc., that
■Sea areas established as marine protected areas in the Ross Sea, Antarctica.

SRZ is the Special Research Zone, KRZ is the Krill Research Zone, and (i)-(iii) are generalprohibition areas.

need to be protected from fishing are clearly designated.
As a measure to compensate for the fishing ban, moreover,
new fishing grounds outside the MPA were made available
for use.
Although the establishment of an MPA tends to be seen
as a goal in itself, based on numerical targets, etc., a true
MPA is just the start of an effort to conserve and manage
marine ecosystems.
Management plans and research monitoring plans areprescribed under the MPA established for the Ross Sea.
Activities in the MPA and the effects of the MPA will be
reviewed by the CCAMLR Scientific Committee every
five years, while the content of the MPA will be reviewed
and revised if necessary by the CCAMLR Annual Meeting
every ten years. Finally, the MPA protection is set to expire
in 35 years.
These details are hard to glean from media reports that
focus only on the fishing ban and other matters mentioned
at the top of this article.

What is the aim of a true MPA?
CCAMLR has taken five years to create the Ross Sea
MPA for conserving marine ecosystems and managing
their use, based on scientific data. The practice of establishing no fishing zones or no fishing seasons, whereby fishingis banned within a specific area or period of time, has long
been the custom in Japanese fishery management. These
are also MPAs. A big difference between the MPAs subject
to international debate in recent years and Japan’s fishery
management is that the former are not only aimed at conserving and managing a single fish species, but aim for conservation and management of whole marine ecosystems. It
is the so-called ecosystem approach.
Unfortunately, amid the international dialogue involving MPAs, there have also been cases of “paper MPAs,”
in which establishing the MPA itself is the objective andno subsequent follow-up is made in terms of management
or research. The true meaning and validity of an MPA liesin whether the management and its effects are appropriately monitored after establishment, and whether the MPA
itself is revised as and when necessary. This is an approachbased on adaptive management, in which the existenceof scientific uncertainty in marine ecosystems is accepted
as a premise and this uncertainty is addressed throughmonitoring.
Whether the Ross Sea MPA will be a paper MPA or willfunction as an effective means of promoting the conservation of marine ecosystems and management of their use
will depend on how the MPA is operated from now on. Its“legacy” has only just begun.
■
Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●20

Exploring Oceans and Life in the Solar System[KEYWORDS] Saturn’s moon Enceladus / underground ocean / hydrothermal environment

Yasuhito SEKINE
Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo(Ocean Newsletter No. 406, 5 July 2017)

According to recent studies, it has become apparent that several objects in the solar system
have, or used to have, liquid oceans. In recent years, such extraterrestrial liquid oceans have been
subjected to sampling and analysis, ushering in a new era of exploring oceans and life in outerspace. Here, I will focus on Saturn’s moon Enceladus and introduce current discussions regarding
probes for underground seas and the possibility of life.

In search of oceans – the cradle of life
“On the islands, lights are lit; the ocean in spring” –Masaoka Shiki
For some reason, we feel a sense of tranquility and nostalgia whenever we see a view of a calm sea. Perhaps thesight of the sea somehow conjures up images of our collective home. For even after 4.6 billion years of the earth’s history, the sea could still be called our original home. Because
the sea is the very place where our earliest ancestors werefirst born as living organisms on our primeval planet.
The oceans were the stage where terrestrial life evolved;
they were a cradle for a mother who nurtures herself. But
this life-nurturing ocean is not something that could only
exist on this earth. Ever since exploration of the solar system started in the 20th century, mankind has been searchingfor seas, or in other words liquid water, on extraterrestrial
bodies. The result of this search has revealed that liquidwater once existed extensively over the surface of Mars as
it does on the earth, and that some of the moons orbiting
Jupiter and Saturn have vast oceans under their surfaces.
In recent years, probes have collected extraterrestrial seawater or at least accessed places where water once existed
there, making it possible to discuss not only the presence orabsence of oceans but also their environments and even thepossibility of life. A new era of exploring oceans in outerspace has indeed arrived.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus
In the outer solar system beyond Jupiter and far fromearth, we enter a world of extreme cold in which ice plays
the leading role and water on the surfaces of solid extraterrestrial bodies is completely frozen. On the surfaces ofsatellites called “icy moons” that orbit Jupiter and Saturn,not only water but also carbon dioxide and other volatileelements are solidified and exist in frozen form.
One of Saturn’s icy moons is Enceladus, a medium-sized
body with a diameter of around 500km. Its surface temperature is about minus 200°C, and there can be no hopeof oceans existing there. If we look closely at that surface,
however, we realize that it has very few of the impact cra-ters that are frequently seen on Saturn’s other moons.
The relatively low presence of impact craters means thatthe surface is being actively renewed. The craters that doform are filled by fluids erupting from below the ice crustand the geological activity of ice flow. This kind of surface renewal also takes place actively on earth, and clearly
reveals that Enceladus is a geologically “living” body.
The existence of this geological activity means that somekind of heat is being generated inside Enceladus. Conceivable heat sources are the decay heat of radionuclides contained in rock, and tidal heating due to the gravitational pull
between Enceladus and Saturn. Tidal heating is frictional
heat arising from the deformation of Enceladus, as its orbit
around Saturn is slightly elliptical.
On earth, surface oceans are maintained by solar energy.
But on icy moons like Enceladus, the interior is heated bytidal energy arising from the gravitational pull of other bodies. Considering this tidal heating and decay heat of radioactive elements, it is conceivable that an underground seaof melted ice could exist under the ice of Enceladus.

Sampling extraterrestrial liquid oceans andthe search for life
When it started exploring Saturn in 2004, the Cassiniprobe had the task of finding an underground sea on Enceladus and identifying its environment, using methods basedon geodesy, geophysics and geochemistry.
First, detailed gravity measurements revealed the existence of a vast underground sea with a depth of more than
50km lying 30km beneath the surface of Enceladus. Seawater was also found to be erupting from underground throughfissures in the surface near the south pole (Fig.1). The probe
collected some of the erupted seawater during its flyby of
Enceladus, and analyzed it on the spot. As well as water, theejecta included carbon dioxide, ammonia, diverse organic
matter, silicates and carbonates, among others. From thecomposition of the seawater, its pH was estimated to bearound 9. It also included an abundance of sodium salt, likethe earth’s oceans. This shows that the sodium contained inrock had leached into seawater, or in other words that the
Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●21

Exploring Oceans and Life in the Solar System■Fig.1

Scene of seawater plumes erupting into the space from near the south pole of Enceladus.
(Image source NASA/JPL)■Fig.2

microbes obtain energy through the reaction between theseagents and the surrounding oxidants. In that case, could anenvironment like the hydrothermal vents on earth also exist
on Enceladus?
In 2015, a discovery was made to answer this question.
Specifically, the erupted seawater was found to containnanometer-sized silica particles called “nanosilica.” Inhydrothermal environments on earth, rock components are
known to leach due to a reaction between rock and waterat high temperatures; nanosilica form when this cools rapidly. My own research group conducted a high-pressurehydrothermal experiment simulating the underground sea
of Enceladus, and clarified that a hydrothermal environment of at least 90°C would be required for nanosilica to begenerated. In other words, the presence of nanosilica wasincontrovertible proof that there is a hydrothermal environment inside Enceladus that could nurture life. If there
is a hydrothermal environment of 90° or more, it must be
possible for life-sustaining hydrogen to be generated fromrock. In 2017, in fact, it was confirmed that large quantities
of hydrogen erupt together with the erupted seawater. This
proved that Enceladus is an extraterrestrial body where
primitive microbes could theoretically survive.

Planetary probe research based on terrestrial
oceanography and life sciences

An imaginary view inside Enceladus. A liquid ocean exists around a core of rock, with a localized hydrothermal environment in excess of 90°C near the south pole. (Image source NASA/
JPL)

underground sea was in contact with rock at the sea bottom(Fig.2).
So does the ocean of Enceladus also have an environment that could nurture life? Without a source of energythat could be used, life could not sustain its activity, even
if there were water and organic matter. Most forms of terrestrial life depend on solar energy for their activity, either
directly or indirectly, but sunlight does not reach the underground ocean on Enceladus.
Even on earth, however, there are places that are teeming with life on deep sea beds where no sunlight can reach.
These are seafloor hydrothermal vents existing in volcanic
regions. There, reducing agents like hydrogen are generated
through contact between hot water and rock, and primitive

The discovery of extraterrestrial life, not only on Enceladus but also elsewhere including Mars, is becoming arealistic target for next-generation probes. Is chemical evolution progressing toward life on Enceladus? How stable isthe ocean, and what sort of ecosystems could be formed?
The answers to these questions cannot be found without
knowledge of terrestrial oceanography and biosphere sciences. Objects in the solar system that have oceans, precious entities for discovering extraterrestrial life and even
exploring the universality of terrestrial life, could be seen
as a rich unbreached frontier for marine sciences and terrestrial life sciences alike.
■

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●22

Review: 10 Years Since the Establishment of the Basic Act on
Ocean Policy[KEYWORDS] ocean governance / Study Group on the Basic Act on Ocean Policy / Advisory Committee

Keizo TAKEMIMember, House of Councillors (Liberal Democratic Party); Lead Facilitator, Strategic Study Group on the Basic Act on Ocean Policy

Ocean Newsletter No. 407 (20 July 2017)

It has been 10 years since the establishment of the Basic Act on Ocean Policy. The Basic Planon Ocean Policy, which works in accordance with this law, is in the process of its 3rd revision,
following the 1st and 2nd revisions.While there have been efforts to implement both top-down andbottom-up policies focusing on governance, building up the system has not necessarily led to theresults that were expected, and many issues still remain.The second revision presented a good
specific plan, but in implementation faced many issues that remained unsolved. The third revisionmust ensure a plan that will be accurately implemented by each of the relevant ministries andagencies.

When drawing up Japan’s ocean policy, “governance” isimportant. The Basic Act on Ocean Policy became law inApril 2007 and took effect on July 20 (“Marine Day”) thatyear. On the same day, the Headquarters for Ocean Policy
came into being. An honest appraisal of these ten years,
however, is that the Act hasn’t really functioned as we
originally hoped, even if its form is complete. Comparing it
to a climb up Mount Fuji, we are still only at about the third
stage (out of ten).
Looking back at the process behind the establishment of
the Basic Act on Ocean Policy, there were originally threemain streams. The first was the ratification of the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea by Japan in
1996. Based on this Convention, policy issues concerning Japan’s sea areas surfaced, such as management of the
Exclusive Economic Zone and the continental shelf. The
second was that concern started to widen from the aspect ofmaritime security. From around 2000, problems such as thepresence of Chinese ocean research ships in the East China
Sea started to emerge. And the third concerns the effortsof the Nippon Foundation and the Ocean Policy Research
Foundation (as it was then known). They are significantly
concerned with the oceans, and have advocated the need forJapan to have a comprehensive ocean policy. When thesethree streams combined to form a single flow, it led to theestablishment of the cross-party Study Group on the Basic
Act on Ocean Policy in April 2006.

Cross-party formulation of the Basic Act on
Ocean Policy
A characteristic of the Study Group on the Basic Act
on Ocean Policy was that its members included privatesector ocean experts as well as Diet members, and moreover that they played an important role in it. Besides these,
various government agencies connected with the oceans
were involved as observers. This enabled the Study Groupon the Basic Act on Ocean Policy to take the initiative in

Scene at the press conference after the 10th meeting of the Study Group on the Basic Act on
Ocean Policy (December 7, 2006), when the “Guideline for Ocean Policy” and the “Outline
Bill for the Basic Act on Ocean Policy” were drawn up.

Scene at the Strategic Study Group on the Basic Act on Ocean Policy (successor to the Study
Group on the Basic Act on Ocean Policy)

enacting the bill as a very strong driving force. I happened
to serve as Lead Facilitator, with Shigeru Ishiba as Chairman and a number of cross-party lawmakers as members.
These included Seiji Maehara, Akihisa Nagashima and Koji
Hosono of the Democratic Party of Japan (as it was thenknown), and Hiroshi Takano and Yoshinori Ohguchi of
Komeito.
As the Basic Act on Ocean Policy was also supportedby the Communist Party, it resulted in an unusual bill thatenjoyed cross-party support in various senses. It was myOcean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●23

Review: 10 Years Since the Establishment of the Basic Act on Ocean Policy
idea to make it a cross-party effort, the reason being that
ocean-related problems are a matter of huge concern for
the nation as a whole, transcending specific interests, and I
believed it would be a mistake to approach them in a partisan fashion.
Until then, problems of the oceans were finely divided
amongst the various government agencies, each tacklingthem from its own particular standpoint. Because there wasno framework for these agencies to collaborate with eachother in setting objectives strategically and to cooperate inpromoting policies, we focused on a framework that would
enable agencies connected with the oceans to collaborate
when creating the Basic Act on Ocean Policy.
Strong leadership is vital when proposing, formulating
and implementing policies that involve several government
bodies. We therefore created a system that would enable
leadership to be demonstrated, by setting up the Headquarters for Ocean Policy inside the Cabinet and making maximum use of the Prime Minister’s authority. Besides this, theSecretariat set up inside the Cabinet Secretariat was staffedwith personnel from each agency, enabling their respective
views to be coordinated.
However, new policies cannot be produced simply byadjusting proposals made by different agencies (“bottomup”). I therefore had the idea of creating a system whereby
new policies could be formed top-down. We then set up an
Advisory Committee consisting of experts in the Headquarters, and created a framework in which their wisdom about
the oceans could be gathered and their views directly recommended to the Prime Minister. This combining of both
top-down and bottom-up policies and implementing themcollectively under the leadership of the Headquarters was
the rationale of the Basic Act on Ocean Policy’s approachto “governance.” Under the Basic Act, the 1st revision(decided by the Cabinet in March 2008) and 2nd revision(ditto, April 2013) of the Basic Plan on Ocean Policy weredrawn up, and this year is exactly ten years since it all
began.

Revival of the Advisory Committee
Though playing an important role, the Advisory Committee was not functioning adequately in the 1st revision of the
Basic Plan on Ocean Policy.
I myself had been away from ocean issues for a while,as I had lost my seat in the Upper House in the electionof 2007, when the Basic Act on Ocean Policy passed intolaw. When I again became involved at a later date, I was
astonished at what I saw. The Advisory Committee was not
functioning, and no advisors had been appointed. Since the
DPJ was in power at the time, I informed Seiji Maehara,

who had been one of our group when the Basic Act on
Ocean Policy was established and now served as Minister
for Ocean Policy, that the framework of the Basic Act on
Ocean Policy we had created together was not functioning.
He then re-appointed advisors. This again made me strongly
aware of the merits of creating the Basic Act on Ocean
Policy as a cross-party exercise. But luckily, we were able
to save the Advisory Committee from going defunct.
We made it possible to establish a PT for discussing
specific policies in the Advisory Committee, and with
Chairman Hiroshi Komiyama and Advisor Tetsuo Yuhara
playing central roles in the 2nd revision of the Basic Planon Ocean Policy, we succeeded in systematically incorporating the recommendations of the Advisory Committee.
However, even if specific policies were created top-down,
it could not be guaranteed that each agency would necessarily implement them. In fact, even though the 2nd revisionof the Basic Plan on Ocean Policy was an excellent revision
with a very detailed content, problems remained in thatmuch of it was not implemented.

What should be the political driving force?
The third revision of the Basic Plan on Ocean Policy, tobe drawn up from now, must be a plan that is capable ofbeing implemented, and will definitely be implemented, by
the various agencies. This is what we have learned from theprevious two experiences.
What is needed to unite the agencies is a political driving
force. The three main streams mentioned above provided
the driving force when the Basic Act on Ocean Policy cameinto law. After that, however, that force had weakened andthe Advisory Committee had effectively ceased to exist.
When I revived it and tried to create a new driving force,
I hoped we could make the development of legislation
related to the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) the central
issue, and unite the agencies around this. There are various
problems connected with the EEZ, including problems of
diplomacy, coordination of existing and new industries,
environmental protection and sustainable development;
how to develop legislation that would overcome these wasan important issue. As well as the PT in the Advisory Committee, a Working Group on preparing legislation has also
been set up in the Liberal Democratic Party and is proceeding with discussions, but no cross-party consensus has yet
been reached on presenting a Bill.

Issues for the third revision of the Basic Planon Ocean Policy
Nurturing marine industries has been an urgent task eversince the Basic Act on Ocean Policy was established. In

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●24

Review: 10 Years Since the Establishment of the Basic Act on Ocean Policy
spite of that, however, hardly anything has been achieved
and no progress has been made in collaboration between
government agencies. Our efforts to develop ocean bed
resources and cultivate domestic industries need to be properly linked together.
In the 2nd revision of the Basic Plan on Ocean Policy, we
launched the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP)
for nurturing ocean survey industries involved in ocean bed
mineral resources. Here too, strong leadership was requiredin connection with nurturing industries. I felt strongly thatthe oceans are a really difficult area in which someone
always needs to take a firm grip and ensure collaboration
among government agencies.
In the third revision of the Basic Plan on Ocean Policy,
important issues will include the development of ocean bed
mineral resources, maritime security, the development, use
and conservation of the EEZ, and the cultivation of marine
industries.
■

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●25

Hopes for Science and Technology Innovation Aimed at
Achieving SDGs
[KEYWORDS] science and technology diplomacy / SDGs / blue innovation

Atsushi SUNAMI
Vice President, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)/President, Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF)

Ocean Newsletter No. 407 (20 July 2017)

Across the world, there have been increased efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) through science and technology innovation. With science and technology innovation known
as Japan’s strengths, expectations for such innovation are high within the international community.
Now Japan, as an “ocean state,” needs to work together with the world through science andtechnology diplomacy in order to create a sustainable system that can link the earth to the future.
At the same time, there is also an urgent need to create an ecosystem that reflects the scienceand technology innovation of our nation, especially as a nation surrounded by the ocean, which
determines the future of our planet’s health.

STI for SDGs
Efforts to achieve the 17 goals in the “Sustainable
Development Agenda” (SDGs) are now taking firm shapethrough concerted action between developed and developing nations, with activities led by the United Nations now
spreading on a global scale. These efforts adopt an approachthat differs from the previous Millennium Development
Goals. In particular, science and technology innovation is
being highlighted as an important solution connected withnearly all of the 17 goals.
As if to underline this, the 2nd “STI Forum” promoting
science and technology innovation with the aim of achieving the SDGs was hosted by the Economic and Social
Council at the United Nations Headquarters in May of thisyear. Japan, as the object of constant global expectationsin terms of science and technology, sees this Forum as anopportunity to fully demonstrate her stance of helping toachieve the global SDGs through science and technology
innovation. This year, we broadly introduced our record inscience and technology cooperation to date, as well as initiatives on issues common to mankind, including problemsof the global environment, infectious diseases and publichealth. The message of achieving the SDGs by using science and technology innovation, one of Japan’s strengths,

was met with considerable praise even from the participating nations. As well as SDG diplomacy, this highly significant first step could truly be seen as one of the fruits ofJapan’s science and technology diplomacy.
“Science and technology diplomacy” means aiming tosolve global issues by linking science and technology with
diplomacy, which are two quite different worlds. In 2015,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs set up the post of Science and Technology Advisor to Foreign Minister Fumio
Kishida, appointing Teruo Kishi (Emeritus Professor of
the University of Tokyo) as the inaugural Advisor. To support him, an Advisory Board for the Promotion of Scienceand Technology Diplomacy, consisting of 17 experts, wasalso set up. As well as supporting Science and Technology Advisor Kishi, the purpose of this Board is to promote
Japan’s science and technology diplomacy and to selectand discuss important diplomacy issues such as the Arctic and other oceans, in addition to SDGs. For example,
SDG No.14 (conservation and sustainable development of
the oceans) is a truly representative theme concerning a
global issue. However, there is still much that has yet to beunderstood scientifically, and it is regarded as essential thatscience and technology should be successfully linked with
policy.

Toward global governance based on evidencePanel discussion at UN Headquarters

In terms of the contribution to the SDGs through science and technology, one aspect that is subject to particular
expectation is that of establishing governance over the
exploitation of the earth’s limited resources. In particular,
sustainable use of marine resources is an important longterm issue for the human race. Until now, humans havemainly used the land as the focus of their development, butwhen it comes to the oceans that cover more than 70% of
the earth’s surface, much is still unknown. If we expand our
focus to include deep seas in addition to the overall state of
the vast oceans, we could say that the vast majority of theseareas remain obscure to us.
Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●26

Hopes for Science and Technology Innovation Aimed at Achieving SDGs
The seas form an environmental system for the wholeworld, and science and technology innovation concerning
the oceans will be increasingly important in future, in terms
not only of protecting the global environment but also ofachieving sustainable economic growth. In this era of IOT
and big data, moreover, gathering and analyzing data concerning the seas, together with knowledge about earth sciences, including ocean research, will be a basis for global
governance in future.
Last year, Japan passed a Basic Law on the Advancementof Public and Private Sector Data Utilization, with the aimof switching to a more evidence-based administrative system. For Japan to make a positive contribution to ocean policy and the establishment of governance aimed at achieving
sustainable terrestrial systems as a future global initiative,
further promotion of ocean research will be essential. If
Japan is to lead the world as a maritime nation, it will firstbe necessary to make its achievements as a leading-edge
research hub known to the world on a continual basis.

Achieving the SDGs through “blue innovation”
Last year, there was an international convention on the
future of the marine economy at the international Arctic
Environment Research Center in the Svalbard Islands (Norway). I took part in this at the invitation of the host country,
Norway. What left a particularly lasting impression on meat the convention was a young entrepreneur named Boyan

Slat, who had launched an operation called “The Ocean
Cleanup” at the age of 17 (established in Delft, Netherlands,
in 2013). He was inspired to start the project when, traveling on a boat as a student, he noticed the excessive amountsof plastic waste drifting on the sea.
The Ocean Cleanup is a system whereby plastic waste
can be collected automatically just by placing nets inappropriate locations, based on finely detailed calculationsof ocean currents. The nets themselves include numerous
technological innovations, and this is truly a good example
of problem solving based on science and technology innovation, using research on ocean currents and the latest
simulations. His courageous action has received praise fromall over the world; he was even invited to the White Houseby then President Obama, who is said to have given his
endorsement. A demonstration experiment will start in the
Pacific Ocean off California this year, and in future I hopefor further experiments in Japan’s coastal waters.
Last year, the OECDpublished a report entitled“The Ocean Economy in2030.” This is an epochal
research report in which
the OECD revised its
assessment of the oceansfrom the viewpoint ofsustainable growth of the
global economy; whilelargely neglecting theoceans in its previous
projects, it now sees them The Ocean Economy in 2030,OECD, 2016as an important asset for http://www.oecd.org/environment/the-oceaneconomy-in-2030-9789264251724-en.htm
the whole planet. The
report proposes that “open innovation” be achieved in connection with the oceans as a way of developing a sustainable ocean economy. To this end, it asserts that a platform
for science and technology innovation needs to be formed
through international cooperation, and that data and indices need to be developed so that the ocean economy in the
broad sense can be understood more accurately.
There is no doubt that achieving a “blue economy,” andthe “blue innovation” that will bring about its sustainablegrowth, will be one of the most important solutions to the
SDGs. We must make haste to build a marine innovation
ecosystem that will allow us to transmit as many “blue■innovations” from Japan as possible.

CEO Boyan Slat (photo, top) and an activity of the Ocean
Cleanup fund (Source: The Ocean Cleanup.com)

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●27

Ocean Floor Topography Survey in Micronesia, and the Future
View of International Cooperation in the Oceans[KEYWORDS] Pacific Ocean island states / ocean floor survey / new international cooperation

Yoshihisa KAWAMURA
Senior Coordinator for International Cooperation, Planning Department, JAMSTEC

Ocean Newsletter No. 409 (20 Aug 2017)

The research vessel “Kairei” of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology(JAMSTEC), carried out an ocean floor survey in March 2016, focusing on the ocean area of
the Federated States of Micronesia. Based on this experience, I will discuss potential forms ofinternational cooperation with island states and others in future, through effective utilization of
JAMSTEC’s research vessels and facilities. I believe it will be of utmost importance to build up a
relationship in which both sides can cooperate on an equal footing.

Ocean floor topography survey to the east of
PohnpeiAt 9 a.m. on February 24, 2016, the JAMSTEC research
vessel “Kairei” departed from Yokosuka bound for theseas east of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia,
with a representative of the Micronesia National Oceanic
Resource Management Authority (NORMA) on board.
Blessed with good weather during the journey, the vessel
arrived at the research area on March 3, and conducted surveys of bathymetry and shallow strata over a period of 48
hours using a multibeam echosounder and sub bottom profiler equipped on the vessel, and completed acquiring dataas planned. On March 6, the vessel entered Pohnpei Portand ended its research cruise.
The process of implementing this cruise started somethree months earlier, when a meeting was held at Geoscience Australia to discuss a plan of wide range deep seismic
survey. The purpose of this was to elucidate the geologicalstructure of the area across Lord Howe Rise off the east
coast of Australia. During the stay, we received an inquiry
from other department staff responsible for the West Pacificand seas around island states. Because an ocean floor
topography survey was urgently needed by the Federated
States of Micronesia, we were asked if the research vessel“Kairei,” which would be heading to conduct deep seismic
survey around Lord Howe Rise, could be utilized to carry

The research vessel “Kairei” that undertook the ocean floor survey. (Photo source: JAMSTEC)

The sea area off the east of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia, where theresearch cruise was carried out.

out that survey as well.
After receiving this information, we had several email
exchanges with the Micronesian National Oceanic Resource
Management Authority (NORMA) as well as a face-toface meeting in Pohnpei. In the course of these, we were
informed that the information from this ocean floor survey
was important for ongoing discussions and review by theUnited Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, but that there was not enough funding available
to independently charter a research vessel and conduct thesurvey. Partly due to a strong support request from Geoscience Australia, we reached a conclusion, which was thatthe minimum requirement of four research days would be
added to the Lord Howe Rise survey cruise and the cost of
those days would be provided by the Federated States ofMicronesia. Thus, after a short coordination period of justunder three months, this research cruise was finalized andexecuted.
The process from proposing the plan of this survey
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Ocean Floor Topography Survey in Micronesia, and the Future View of International Cooperation in the Oceans
cruise to its implementation differed greatly from normal
survey cruise using JAMSTEC research vessels, and particularly from cruises outside Japan’s territorial waters, inseveral respects. In normal research cruises, a proposal isfirst submitted as a research plan using a research vessel,
either independently by JAMSTEC researchers or jointly
by JAMSTEC researchers and those at other institutions.
The Internal Research Cruise Planning Committee in JAMSTEC conducts a rigorous review, taking JAMSTEC’s budgetary situation into account, and then decides at least one
year in advance whether the research cruise can go aheador not. After this, JAMSTEC makes all the preparations forthe cruise, including acquiring the survey permit.
Since these cruises are implemented with funding fromthe national budget (the JAMSTEC grant), the feasibilityof implementing the cruise will naturally be affected by
the Committee’s review and the fiscal budget. By contrast, because this cruise was for research required by anorganization or foreign government institution other than
JAMSTEC, and was implemented at the expense of anotherorganization or government, and moreover, because it
could be implemented as an addition to an already planned
research cruise, the cruise could be carried out in a relatively short time after the proposal submission.

Background and the current situation of
JAMSTEC’s research vessels
In recent years, international laws such as the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and systems ofinternational standards and criteria such as environmental impact assessments have been clearly recognized andwidely spread through international or multilateral dialogue. In the process, the importance of objective scientific
data has increased.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of theSea, island states and developing coastal states are positively planning activities to apply for extensions of theircontinental shelf to the United Nations Commission on the
Limits of the Continental Shelf. The reality is, however, thatsome countries, federations and regions are unable to carryout survey and obtain the scientific data (evidence, proof)
necessary for this application by themselves. Similarly, they
are sometimes unable to embark on environmental surveys
or environmental protection in the waters around them, oron surveys or development for new resources in the ocean
or on the ocean floor, owing to a lack of facilities, humanresources, or technical capabilities in their own countries.
On the other hand, JAMSTEC has been reducing its
research vessels and days of facility operation in connection
with the recent situation of science and research budgetsof the Japanese government. If this situation continues, we
may arrive at a situation in which we can only maintainlarge facilities including research vessels but will be unable
to undertake actual research activities.

The future view of international cooperation
International cooperation based on Japan-led joint
research and research cruises is just as important now as it
ever was. However, considering China’s recent moves into
oceans and international cooperation on the back of her
recent national strength, there are thoughts to be limits toJapan’s capacity to exert her presence on the same stage.
As seen in this case in Micronesia, however, it will beeven more important in future to build cooperative relationships in which both parties are on an equal footing, in termsof gaining some kind of recompense. This can be done, forexample, by efficiently providing and supporting research
vessels or other large-scale facilities, scientific researchtechnology, etc., when these are lacking in the partner country or region, for surveys or projects being independently
considered by that partner country or region.
In connection with the international standards and criteria
lying behind this, similarly, international cooperation willfurther heighten Japan’s presence in the oceans. This could
take the form of collaborating sincerely with island statesand developing coastal states and entering partnerships withthem while standardizing environmental impact assessments in marine resource development led by Japan, forexample, so that they will also be more easily accepted by
the partner country.
Sharing of information between the parties concerned
is indispensable to building these new international cooperative relationships. From JAMSTEC, in particular, it isimportant to transmit information on ship track of research
vessels, the state of facility use, efforts on international
standards and criteria, etc. The various networks createdbetween Japan and island states are very important as platforms for transmitting that information, and we should takesteps toward international cooperation in collaboration with
them.
■

Ocean Newsletter
Selected Papers/No.22●29