[CPEO-MEF] GLOBAL, BIOTA: "US Military Base Threatens Biodiversity in Okinawa"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

US Military Base Threatens Biodiversity in Okinawa

BY Jon Letman
Truthout
April 15, 2019

Hidden beneath the aquamarine waters off Cape Henoko in northern Okinawa, Oura Bay teems with life. Orange-spotted filefish dart among reefs of blue coral, fantastic Christmas tree worms and tiny translucent invertebrates called sea squirts nestle in colonies of porites corals and redeye gobies flit among forests of stony coral.

Hemmed by white sand beaches, Oura Bay is a hotspot of biodiversity, home to more than 5,300 species of corals, fish, invertebrates and Okinawa’s last remaining population of dugong, an endangered manatee-like marine mammal.

According to a Japanese Ministry of Defense Environmental Impact Assessment, more than 260 endangered species - giant sea cucumbers, snakes and slugs, crabs, sponges and other species still undescribed by science - live in Oura Bay. Surveys document a high level of endemism (species that occur only in a single location), offering the potential for new scientific discoveries.

…

For the entire article, see
https://truthout.org/articles/us-military-base-threatens-biodiversity-in-okinawa/

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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