General Information

　
***　General Information　***

　□　Name of organization　□　Non-profit organization (NPO) Yakushima Umigame-Kan

　◇　Date of foundation　：　　　25th June 2001

　◇　Location　　　　　　：　　　489-8 Nagata, Yakushima-cho
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Kumage-gun, Kagoshima-ken
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 891-4201

　◇　Tel & Fax　　　　　　：　　　0997-49‐6550

　◇　Representative　　　：　　　Kazuyoshi Omuta　　　

　▼　Objective of organization

The coast of Japan is the only place in the northern-pacific where the loggerhead turtles lay their eggs. Yakushima is the largest habitat for the turtles to lay their eggs, and almost half of the population coming to Japan lay eggs on Yakushima. Yakushima is also the northern end of the green turtle’s laying zone, which makes Yakushima a very important habitat for sea-turtles.

Loggerhead turtle and green turtle are both registered under the endangered list of species. Due to the efforts of conservation, the numbers coming ashore are increasing, but the situation for the future is not all bright. The hatching baby turtles are thought to swim across to the West coast of USA, or the coasts of Mexico on the Black Current (Kuroshio). They are thought to spend up to 20-30 years to maturity (to be reproductively mature), but it is not certain whether there will be suitable habitat to lay their eggs when they come back to the beaches of Yakushima.

The beaches where the sea turtles come to lay their eggs are also a habitat for many plants and animals and it is an important habitat in terms of conserving species diversity. ‘Nagata-hama’, a beach on Yakushima, was registered as an important wetland under the Ramsar Convention Wetland Habitat in 2005. However, we should note that as the island becomes recognized as the UNESCO world heritage site and the Ramsar Convention Wetland Habitat, the number of tourists that come to see the turtles are increasing, and thus putting a negative impact on the habitat for egg-laying and hatching. As the beach becomes more famous for its turtles, the tourists disturb the turtles by leaking light onto the beach, and stomping on the nests, which cause death through suffocation. With such impact we are giving on the turtles and their habitat, we may not see the turtles return to the island in 20-30 years time.

This organization aims to solve these issues though monitoring and researching the turtles’ ecology under the theme of conserving the nature of Yakushima and the surrounding habitat. We also aim to contribute to the other fauna and flora and the human society through conserving the habitat which the sea turtles need to survive.　

　▼　What we do

	◇	Monitor/research of sea turtle ecology. This includes tagging, measurements (shell size and time to lay eggs, etc), and other activities.
	◇	Publish report on monitoring results
	◇	Conservation of habitat (cleaning the beach, maintenance of trees to block light leaking into the beach)
	◇	Operation of Umigame-kan (Sea turtle exhibition center)
	◇	Awareness building (Lectures on sea turtles, one-day volunteer, publishing of newsletter, etc.)

　▼　History of Activities

◇	April 1st 1985	Founded as Yakushima Sea Turtle Research Group (Data collection on the sea turtle ecology/behavior starts by volunteers of the island)
◇	Nov 30th 1985	Publish the first report finding
◇	Jun 10th 1991	Publish the first newsletter (Umigame Tsushin)
◇	Jun 1993	Replanted pine trees of Inaka-hama to block light reaching the beach
◇	Nov 30th 1997	Receive the Contribution and Formal Award of the Sea from Asahi
◇	Aug 10th 1998	Receive a letter of gratitude from Kagoshima Prefecture for the conservation of sea turtles
◇	Jan 1st 1999	Re-name the organization to ‘Yakushima Umigame-kan’
◇	Jan 20th 2001	Pass a resolution to be registered as a non-profit organization
◇	Jun 2001	Official registration as a non-profit organization
◇	Nov 2005	Receive a letter of gratitude from Yakushima-city
◇	Dec 2007	Exhibition on Yakushima Sea turtles at the Shinjyuku-Gyoen Ministry of Environment Information Center
◇	Jun 2009	Renew exhibits at the Umigame-kan (Sea turtle Center)
◇	Jan 2011	Make stuffed specimen of leatherback turtle (juvenile, 160cm length) Start exhibit at Umigame-kan from April
◇	Aug 2011	Publish the book ‘The mystery of the tears of sea turtles- the ecology and environment from Yakushima’
◇	Sep 2011	Publish report on 25 years of research (1985-2009)

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