AptaMer
04-17-2018, 10:04 PM
So the island of Okinawa in the Nansei island chain that extends south and east of Japan, has for millennia hosted the northernmost population of the dugong, and the Okinawan people have always regarded them as special creatures, even claiming they help the turtles.
The US military and the Japanese government, though, have considered Okinawa to be a key to the control of the South China Sea, China, and Southease Asia. On an island 70 miles by 7, there are no less than 23 military bases, and 25% of the island's land is leased to the US military. This has led to overdevelopment and environmental degradation, and the dugongs have continually dwindled in number as their habitats are overwhelmed, and their largest sanctuary is Oura Bay.
Now the US Marines want to build a new base offshore in Oura Bay and other areas, and the construction will destroy Oura Bay's seagrass beds on which the Dugongs depend, and will probably finalize their extinction in the region.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070823-dugongs.html
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/09/new-military-base-could-seal-fate-okinawa-dugong
Okinawans themselves massively oppose destruction of the bay, with 85% against it in polls, and the issue was a major factor in local politician Takeshi Onaga winning the islands' governorship by a landslide in 2014.
But the Japanese and US governments don't really care. They think maintenance of military superiority is more important than a few dozen animals who may be fated to die out anyway, and the impression I get is that they are just trying to wait out the controversy as well as Okinawan protests and lawsuits and keep it out of the mainstream news until the lawsuits they have so far been losing can be either dismissed, or voided on national security grounds.
Here's the Friends of Biological Diversity's webpage on the issue
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/Okinawa_dugong/
and their page on the campaign to save them
https://act.biologicaldiversity.org/onlineactions/UggtNRBkQEqjBKTiFcNVJQ2
Perhaps mers in the United States and Japan can to to help gain publicity for the dugongs and their plight?
The US military and the Japanese government, though, have considered Okinawa to be a key to the control of the South China Sea, China, and Southease Asia. On an island 70 miles by 7, there are no less than 23 military bases, and 25% of the island's land is leased to the US military. This has led to overdevelopment and environmental degradation, and the dugongs have continually dwindled in number as their habitats are overwhelmed, and their largest sanctuary is Oura Bay.
Now the US Marines want to build a new base offshore in Oura Bay and other areas, and the construction will destroy Oura Bay's seagrass beds on which the Dugongs depend, and will probably finalize their extinction in the region.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070823-dugongs.html
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/09/new-military-base-could-seal-fate-okinawa-dugong
Okinawans themselves massively oppose destruction of the bay, with 85% against it in polls, and the issue was a major factor in local politician Takeshi Onaga winning the islands' governorship by a landslide in 2014.
But the Japanese and US governments don't really care. They think maintenance of military superiority is more important than a few dozen animals who may be fated to die out anyway, and the impression I get is that they are just trying to wait out the controversy as well as Okinawan protests and lawsuits and keep it out of the mainstream news until the lawsuits they have so far been losing can be either dismissed, or voided on national security grounds.
Here's the Friends of Biological Diversity's webpage on the issue
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/Okinawa_dugong/
and their page on the campaign to save them
https://act.biologicaldiversity.org/onlineactions/UggtNRBkQEqjBKTiFcNVJQ2
Perhaps mers in the United States and Japan can to to help gain publicity for the dugongs and their plight?