(JP/US)Dugong protection call snubbed

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http://www.asahi.com/english/national/K2001081400223.html

 

Dugong protection call snubbed

 

The Asahi Shimbun

 

A U.S. governmental organization urged Washington to

determine whether the relocation of a U.S. air station

to a site off Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, would destroy

the habitat of endangered mammals living in the area,

sources said.

 

The U.S. State Department and Pentagon, however, said

responsibility for building the new air

station-including any environmental assessment-lies

with authorities in Tokyo, the sources said.

 

The debate centers around ongoing plans to relocate

the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan

to a new offshore site near Nago.

 

The area is the natural habitat of groups of dugong,

which feed on algae there, according to the Marine

Mammal Commission, an independent administrative body

that monitors U.S. governmental activities and advises

Washington on the protection of ocean mammals.

 

Environmental experts have long voiced concerns that

the construction of the offshore air station would

threaten the dugongs' habitat.

 

Researchers of the commission also fear increased

noise and pollution from military drills would

adversely affect the timid and sensitive mammals, the

sources said.

 

Renowned dugong expert Helene Marsh, a professor of

environmental science at James Cook University in

Queensland, Australia, wrote to Environment Minister

Yoriko Kawaguchi, calling for detailed research on the

dugongs' habitat, which she says will be destroyed

during construction of the air station.

 

Marsh said the area off the coast of Nago should not

be used to relocate the Futenma air station.

 

Dugongs are found in warm waters from East Africa to

Asia, northern Australia and many islands in the South

Pacific.

 

Experts say Okinawa is their northernmost habitat, and

the dugongs living around Nago form an isolated group

from those in other areas, making them of special

value, Marsh said.

 

(08/14)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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