Coastal Area 13708 Adjacent waters of Iwaijima and Nagashima islands

Basic Information References

Reason(s) for selection Criteria

Characteristics References

These are the waters surrounding Iwai and Nagashima Islands in the vicinity of the town of Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. In Yamaguchi Prefecture's Hirao Bay (from the town of Tabuse to the town of Hirao) live small-scale whiting (Shigeta, 2008; Shigeta et al., 2013 in print; Shigeta and Usuki, 2011), and at the mouth of the Tabuse River live Asian clams (Shigeta, not yet published). In addition, Hirao Bay and nearby waters include habitat and breeding grounds of Japanese horseshoe crab (Japanese Association of Benthology, 2012; Yamaguichi Japanese Horseshoe Crab Research Conference). The coast in the vicinity of Nagashima, Iwai, and Uwajima hold many natural coasts with no embankment work, and in such places the past biodiversity of the Seto Inland Sea remains strong. On the reef coasts Sargassum beds develop very strongly and are highly productive. The channel separating Iwai Island from Nagashima Island is famous as a fishing round for sea bream, and finless porpoise and Japanese murrelet have been spotted here. A streaked shearwater breeding ground has been found in Uwajima Island (Ecological Society of Japan Kaminoseki Follow-up Committee, 2010).