No.221

October 20, 2009

●	Wanted: a new kind of hero David Pugh Formerly President, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO/ Formerly President of the Federation of Astronomical and Geophysical Data, Analysis Services of the International Council for Science. Full Text
●	Changes in the Coastal Environment and Thoughts on Environmental Restoration from a Fisheries Perspective Takehiro Tanaka Fisheries Section Manager, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Division, Okayama Prefecture
●	The Building of Japan’s First Western Style Ship, the Heda, and Friendship with Russia Kazuo Ito Chief Priest, Hosen-ji Masahiko Ito Office Manager, Faculty of Science, Nagoya University

Wanted: a new kind of hero

David Pugh
Formerly President, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO/ Formerly President of the Federation of Astronomical and Geophysical Data, Analysis Services of the International Council for Science.

The early explorers of the world's oceans enjoyed heroic status. Their long voyages were widely reported to people eager to learn about new places and new discoveries. Pioneers such as Bouganville, Cook, Ross, Shirase, Scott and Shackleton mapped new areas, found new plant and animal species, and made many scientific measurements of both the land and the sea.

Full Text

Changes in the Coastal Environment and Thoughts on Environmental Restoration from a Fisheries Perspective

Takehiro Tanaka
Fisheries Section Manager, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Division, Okayama Prefecture

In order to restore the coastal environment and fisheries of Okayama Prefecture, we have carried out initiatives to revive seagrass beds and increase ocean farming. As coastal environment restoration means the repair of ecosystems and normalization of material cycles, this can only be achieved through organisms living and reproducing themselves in those environments, a process known as bio-remediation. The contribution that we can make towards environmental restoration is thus to create opportunities for bio-remediation to take place.

The Building of Japan’s First Western Style Ship, the Heda, and Friendship with Russia

Kazuo Ito
Chief Priest, Hosen-ji
Masahiko Ito
Office Manager, Faculty of Science, Nagoya University

Although Admiral Putyatin’s diplomatic activities in the Far East on behalf of the Russian Empire are well known, such as his negotiations with the Tokugawa Shogunate that resulted in the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia, less so are the documented facts of his work in the private sphere to build friendship between the two countries. I would like here to introduce the history of the warship Diana’s shipwreck, the building of Japan’s first western style ship, the Heda, by the shipwrights of Heda village, and the friendship between Admiral Putyatin and the local people.