Japan has set aside a $7 million for coral transplanting operation in the Pacific to bolster its claim in a territorial dispute with China. By doing such Japan has made its mark to exploit a wide expanse of ocean. Japanese officials said over next year they intend to plant more than 50,000 fast-growing Acropora coral fragments on Okinotorishima, two uninhabited rocky outcroppings about 1,060 miles southwest of Tokyo.
According to the officials the main purpose for such plantation is to protect the islets from further erosion and establish Japan’s claim that the islands are its own and can be used to map its exclusive economic zone in the Pacific. But China has challenged Tokyo’s claim saying that the outcropping are too small to be defined as islands under international law, meaning the waters around them can be used any nations.
Mayumi Tamura, of the Fisheries Agency, said that the corals will grow larger and eventually preserve the islets and their environment. According to him Tokyo sees corals as an important marine resource, not as a mere tool of territorial claims. Japan ha started coral plantation way back in 2006 and now the agency plan to take 10,000 already spawned fragments with tens of thousands more still to be bred in another trip planned for January, 2009.
Koji Watanabe, a chief researcher at a government-funded Fisheries Infrastructure Development Center, told that the agency has a budget of $7.55 million for the three-year project. He added that the small scale relocation and transplant of corals has been conducted in Japan, but that this would be the first involving so many fragments.
Watanabe opined that coral plays a crucial role in the marine environment, and their loss could seriously damage fishing grounds.
