Recent attempt towards environmental restoration of enclosed coastal seas: Ago [Japan] Bay restoration project based on the new concept of sato-umi

Since the present status of the enclosed seas along the coast of Japan is more or less 'damaged' or 'deteriorated' mainly due to prolonged impact of human activities, environmental restoration followed by rehabilitation of the natural ecosystem is one of the most important subjects to be tackled from the view point of both environmental conservation and living resource management. Ago Bay is one of the deteriorated areas especially from the viewpoint of aquaculture grounds in Japan. Although the bay is known to be a world-famous cradle of pearl culture, conditions of the bay in terms of sediment quality, dissolved oxygen and harmful algal blooms have deteriorated during the long history of pearl culture. The ongoing 'Environmental Restoration Project on Enclosed Coastal Seas' in Ago Bay mainly deals with restoration of deteriorated tidal flats and seagrass beds and also development of environmental forecasting technology based on environmental monitoring and modeling. Since the project conducted under the collaboration program of the Japan Science and Technology Agency with industries, academies and public services includes not only scientific and technological studies but also components of environmental education, environmental management and wider cooperation with varieties of stakeholders, it can be a model of environmental restoration and management of enclosed coastal seas. The outline of the project as well as its present status and future perspective is introduced with particular emphasis on the new concept of SatoUmi, which in Japanese means coastal sea under the harmonization of sustainable wise use with conservation of appropriate natural environment and habitat conditions. An automatic monitoring system to monitor water quality has been established and real time observation data are open to the public through the Internet. Varieties of restoration methods for damaged shallow environments and habitats with the use of environment friendly technology based on the concept of Sato-Umi is being developed and applied in this project.