ACTION

◆Providing Information
·  The website
·  Newsletters issued quarterly (in Japanese）

◆Symposiums, seminars, and workshops
Regularly held forums

·  Friday Seminars: A 12 series dugong forum, provided discussions on various issues with the invitees from various fields in nature conservation.

·  Dugong Café: A yearly setting for anyone to participate and talk over anything about dugongs.

·  “Okinawa’s Nature in Danger Now”: A Symposium held biyearly in cooperation with other nature conservation groups by which we share and discuss the issues about Okinawa’s nature and work together towards resolutions.

Other forums
·   The first international symposium on dugongs was held in Okinawa (April, 2000).

·   Dr. Ellen Hines (San Francisco State University), the world’s expert on dugongs in Asia, was invited for symposiums in Tokyo and Okinawa (January 2005).

·    Oral presentation on current state of the dugongs in Okinawa at a seminar held by the Center for Biological Diversity in California, USA (February 2006).

·    Open seminars in Okinawa with Dr.Hines and Dr. Lemnuel Aragones (University of Philippines), the experts on dugongs and seagrasses. Lectures were given on biology and ecology of dugongs and on field survey methods (November 2006).

·   Workshops held in Okinawa to discuss and determine the future direction of dugong conservation as well as the survey plans with Dr. Toshio Kasuya , the lead dugong scientist in Japan, Dr. Hines and Dr. Aragones (June, 2007).

 ◆Events
·  Eco-Products and Earth Day: A yearly participation in these exhibitions to raise public awareness about the dugongs in Okinawa and the issues they face.

·  Junior United Nations Environment Conference (2003, 2004): Held workshops and discussed about the species extinction and the significance of the regional ecosystems with the children.

·  Patagonia’s Speaker Series (2006, 2008): Oral presentations.

·  Ribbon Messages Action (2006): In cooperation with BEE (Bicycle for Everyone’s Earth), the environmental education activists, messages with regard to the dugongs and nature in Okinawa were collected on the ribbons from various parts of the country. The total length of the ribbons reached approximately 750m!

◆International Conferences
·    The Fifth IUCN World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa (September, 2003): Appealed for the need of nature conservation in Okinawa.
·    The Ninth International Mammalogical Congress in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan (July, 2005): Poster presentations on the historical and cultural study of the dugongs in Okinawa.

·     The 16th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in San Diego, California, USA（December, 2005): Appeal for international understandings and supports with regard to the potentially significant impacts of the proposed Futemma Replacement Facilities (FRF) on the Okinawan dugongs and their habitats.

◆Surveys
·  Cultural and historical surveys: Hearing research in the region from Yaeyama Islands to Okinawa’s main island and literature research were initiated in October 2004 to explore the historical and cultural significance of the dugongs in Okinawa. The findings are documented in a booklet.

 · Feeding trail surveys: The survey was initiated in November 2006 and is ongoing in cooperation with the locals in Okinawa. The feeding trails and the adjacent seagrasses are regularly monitored with aim to predict the dugongs’ population status and to understand their habitat environment. The survey methods were determined upon consultation with Dr. Ellen Hines (San Francisco State University) and Dr. Lemnuel Aragones(University of Philippines), who visited the field and participated in the preliminary survey.

 ◆ Awarded grants
·  Patagonia Environmental Grants Program (2006,2007,2008)
·  Conservation Alliance Japan Grant (2006, 2007)
·  The Takagi Fund for Citizen Science (2007,2008)
·  Pro Natura Fund (2004)

◆Appeals and protests
·  Participation in the protest at Henoko, the proposed FRF site, since April 2004, by which a request for urgent protection of the dugongs in Okinawa has been made.
·  Have been and will continue to make policy recommendations and submit opinions and protest letters to the Government of Japan, as appropriate.