We invite your opinion!
about more than 100 nails left on the dugong's feeding trails

The construction of a U.S. military airbase is planned at Henoko, Okinawa, in the last remaining habitat of the　critically endangered Okinawa dugong.  The Japanese government has　made  promises to the US military and is pressed for time to carry out　the construction.  At the moment field surveys for an "environmental　impact assessment" are being carried out regardless of protests at local and national level, despite the fact that the scope and methodology for theassessment have not even been approved by the EIA committee.

At the end of October our group found more than 100 pegs and 8cm(3-inch) metal nails with short nylon ropes attached,placed on the dugong’s feeding trails in their favorite feeding ground.

to see video, please visit the following url and click the streaming video button
http://www.qab.co.jp/01nw/07-11-16/index4.html

Bottom sediment is sandy so that some nails have come out.We immediately complained to the government about the irresponsible and inadequate survey, and demanded that they remove the nails as soon as possible.

 However, the officers asserted that they are carrying out the survey with sufficient attention to dugongs. By “sufficient attention” they meant checking the marking nails at times. The survey will continue until next summer.  The nails will remain on dugongs' frequently-used seagrass bed for a long time.

 We fear the method of the survey is very harmful for dugongs.  Dugongs must be annoyed by numerous foreign materials in seagrass and might eat the nylon ropes and nails by mistake. We want to know what you think about this issue. If the survey is likely to harm dugongs seriously, we will call on the government to make an immediate halt to the survey.  We need your advice and opinions to save Okinawa's dugongs.  Thank you.

Please give us your message to info@sea-dugong.org