Aging community fishes for ways to stay viable

Southwest of Shikoku, an island that has fallen on hard times contemplates a future in which serious academic pursuits coexist with carefree holidaymakers.

By GO YAMASHITA
Asahi Shimbun
Yesterday, Kashiwa Island in Kochi Prefecture, was a thriving fishery center; tomorrow, it promises to be a veritable nature museum.
The change has been driven by the depopulation of the island, Otsuki town, once inhabited by fishermen and now short of young men ready to follow in their footsteps.
As more and more tourists discovered the island's diving and fishing potential for themselves, local residents came up with the idea of turning the island into an interactive nature reserve as well as a center for academic studies of oceanic life and environmental protection.
Although they aim to make a "museum" of their island, the residents have anything but a static repository of age-old marvels in mind: they intend to revive their community in way compatible with the contemporary environment and modern lifestyles.
Kashiwa Island lies at the tip of a bridge that juts out into the ocean from Odo Beach, a 50-minute drive from Sukumo Station, the Tosa Kuroshio Railway terminus.
About 4 kilometers in circumference, the island has a population of roughly 570. But the island is graying: about one-third of that population is aged 65 or over.
Blessed with a rich offshore fishing ground where the Kuroshio current washes into Bungo Channel, Kashiwa Island was once known as a haven for bonito anglers and yellowtail breeders.
All the time, its true treasure lay beneath the ocean, where large beds of coral are populated by an impressive variety of fish.
A study by researchers from Kochi University revealed that the area is home to 884 species from 143 recognized families of both tropical and temperate-zone origin.
This year, discovery of the rare pygmy sea horse in these remarkably clear waters was a big talking point among the diving fraternity. The area also offers rich pickings for those in quest of parrotfish and other large fish varieties---and nowadays more than 30,000 tourists a year visit the area.
To make full use of its natural resources, Masaru Kanda, a part-time lecturer at Kochi University, came up with the idea of establishing the Kuroshio Jikkan (realization) Center, which is a nature museum.
The 33-year-old scholar, now director of the museum's preparatory committee, first visited Kashiwa Island during his freshman year at college. He went on to found a diving club and spent all his subsequent holidays on the island, working as a dive guide.
His other aim was to conduct a study of the marine ecosystem around the island, then still relatively unknown as an ideal spot for diving.
Drawn to the untainted environment, and the uncomplicated life and character of the local fishermen, Kanda eventually hit upon the idea of making the island a hub of marine ecology research.
Two years ago he moved there, and in July, 1998, he established the museum's preparatory committee, with Otsuki civic leader---Kunio Shibaoka---as its patron.
The committee set up its office in a local junior high school that is due to close next fiscal year, and has held consultation sessions for the islanders as well as study meetings at which environmental problems were aired.
The Kuroshio Jikkan Center blueprint envisions turning the entire island into a field museum, but one that would give visitors the freedom to inspect the ecosystem while they enjoy diving or, if they prefer, simply plan on the seashore.
The villagers have been helping the committee create a video library of oceanic life forms. Current plans are for the center to open its doors by 2002 when an undersea tunnel gives coachloads of tourists access to Kashiwa Island.
Kochi Prefecture has given the blueprint its seal of approval as a plan "submitted by residents of the prefecture" and appropriated 3.3 million yen in its budget for the video library and related projects.
But the island's renaissance as a tourist haven has sparked discord between tourists and the local fishermen, resentful of what they regard as the insensitivity of divers who obstruct the passage of their boats or drop anchor in the middle of a fishing ground.
One fisherman who declined to give his name said: "Why should we sacrifice our livelihoods for the sake of pleasure seekers from the city?"
Undeniably, the effects of tourism have not been totally benign: littering has become a problem and diving-boat anchors have laid some coral beds waste. Critics of the Pro-tourism push have warned that stepping up the influx of visitors could let to destruction of the rich natural environment that lured them there in the first place.
To pre-empt such a disaster, the preparatory committee has spread its attention beyond the original focus on academic research to embrace environmental protection and the community's economic revival.
At a symposium held on the island in June, Kochi Governor Daijiro Hashimoto stressed that, in order to enjoy what the island could offer visitors, rules had to be formulated "that reflect the opinions of the islanders themselves."
The symposium's two keynote topics were environmental protection and reviving the island's fortunes. The local council marked diving points with buoys as a caution to skippers not to cast anchor over the coral beds.
In July it began offering a course on squid fishing so that tourists could enjoy their own catch fresh from the ocean. The course had a twofold aim: to give recreational divers something to do after hours, and to appease islanders who had complained that diving shops were the only ones profiting from the tourist influx.
Kanda, the director of the Kuroshio Jikkan Center preparatory committee, said: "We hope visitors will not focus on the island's natural charms to the exclusion of the local people."
Through the study sessions, he also hoped that the islanders---who tend to take the bounty around them for granted---would re-evaluate how lucky they are and take account of the need to protect the environment when consider the future of their neighborhood.
"We have no time to lose in drafting rules to protect this environment," added Kanda, who believes that local action may send a signal to others around the globe whose ecosystems are under threat.
The campaign to turn Kashiwa Island into a nature museum appears to be progressing steadily.
The preparatory committee is inviting members of the public to join a supporters' group. For a minimum annual fee of 2,000 yen (for individuals) or 20,000 yen (for groups), members can expect regular updates by newsletter and e-mail on seminars, other pro-environment events, as well as information on the state of the local marine environment.
For further information, call the committee on (0880) 62-8022.

Caption : PHOTO 1 (ASAHI SHIMBUN)
From the air, Kashiwa Island in the town of Otsuki, on the shores of Sukumo Bay in the southwest Kochi Prefecture, looks more like an isolated settlement than an interactive nature museum.

Caption :PHOTO 2 (Kuroshio Jikkan Center)
Children from the mountainside of Kochi Prefecture take a dip in the shallows ---combining the fun of a day at the beach with an opportunity to learn something about marine life in Nature's own classroom on Kashiwa Island.