(JP) Environment Ministry to launch seal study

October 21, 2002

Environment Ministry to launch seal study

Yomiuri Shimbun

The Environment Ministry plans to study seals

inhabiting and migrating through Japanese waters next

fiscal year in a bid to protect the aquatic mammals.

The ministry also plans to establish a seal sanctuary

to safeguard the animals that have become more popular

recently with the appearance of a bearded seal, dubbed

" Tama-chan, " in the Tamagawa river this past summer.

According to authorities, five species of seals

currently inhabit the waters around Japan. Four of the

species, including the bearded seal, which is native

to the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea, sometimes

float south into Japanese waters on drifting ice.

The fifth species, which lives in eastern Hokkaido

along the Pacific coast, is considered an endangered

species.

The revised wildlife protection law will be enacted in

April 2003. Under the the revised law, capturing the

five species of seals will be banned from next spring.

The ministry has decided to take concrete measures to

protect seals and will start research on the seals

from fiscal 2003, observing the animals from planes

and ships to try to confirm the number of seals and

their migration patterns, ministry officials said. The

research is to continue for three years, they said.

The ministry also will look into damage done to

fisheries, such as the destruction of salmon traps by

seals. It plans to set up a sanctuary with the aim of

enabling seals and humans to live side by side.

" We'll try to find the best way to protect and

preserve seals by collecting relevant data, " a

ministry official said.

The most recent sighting of Tama-chan was Thursday in

the Katabiragawa river in Yokohama.

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