For the Sake of Okinawa Dugongs: The Kasuya-Abe Document now available on the internet

We at Okinawa Outreach are excited to present a document “Building a Futenma Air Station Replacement Facility at Cape Henoko and Its Impacts on Japan’s Dugong Population” written by Dr. Toshio Kasuya and Dr. Mariko Abe (Click here to see the document). Dr. Kasuya is one of the foremost experts on marine mammals in Japan and Dr. Abe is a leading expert on coral biology. Both of them have conducted research in the area of Henoko and Oura Bay.

 Click here to see the whole document

The Kayusa-Abe document is a scientific rebuttal against the Okinawa Defense Bureau’s assessment of impacts on the endangered marine mammal dugong of the construction and operations of a US military base in Henoko and Oura Bay in Okinawa. The Bureau conducted its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) surveys from March 2007 to February 2008 and concluded in its 2011 EIA statement that the construction and operations of the military base would have no adverse impacts on the environment including the dugong (see this site). In stark contrast, Dr. Kasuya and Dr. Abe warn that the base construction "would not only disrupt the lives of dugongs in the Henoko/Abu/kayo region," but also "by extension (would) increase the probability of the dugong's disappearance from Japan's coast."   

We hope that the Kasyua-Abe document helps the international community understand why the Bureau’s EIA has been criticized as the “worst EIA ever in the history of Japanese EIA”(see this site).  We also hope that the document gives a great impetus to the international movement for the conservation of the Okinawa dugong and for stopping the construction of the U.S. military base in Henoko and Oura Bay.

Background of the Document

The Kasuya-Abe document was produced at the request of the Japanese plaintiffs in the recent development of the case of “the Okinawa Dugong vs. Secretary of U.S. Department of Defense” filed in federal district court in San Francisco (see this site).

In January 2008, the court ruled that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) failed to take into account possible effects of the military base on the Okinawa dugong in accordance with Section 402 of the U.S. National Historical Preservation Act (NHPA) (see this site). The court ordered the DoD to comply with the Section 402. After the ruling, however, both plaintiffs and DoD sides could not reach agreement over how the DoD should conduct its “take into account” process. This was then followed by a period of inaction in the case, and in February 2012 the court decided to hold the case in abeyance due in part to the uncertainty of the construction plan.

The Japanese government however showed no sign of giving up the construction plan and instead it pressured then-Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima to approve the land reclamation permit for the construction of the base in December 2013 (see this site). The plaintiffs thus began preparing for the possible reopening of the case. It was in this context that Dr. Kasuya and Dr. Abe were contacted by the Japanese plaintiffs and were asked to examine the Okinawa Defense Bureau’s treatment of the dugong in its EIA.

The Kasuya-Abe document was first written in Japanese and was then translated into English with more information added to the English version. The final English version of the document was completed in July 2014.

While the document was still being translated and finalized, the lawsuit took an unexpected turn. In April, 2014, the DoD announced that it had completed the "take into account process" as ordered by the court and that it concluded that the military base would not harm the dugongs (see this site"). With that conclusion, drilling surveys in Henoko and Oura Bay started in July 2014.

Later in July, the plaintiffs filed a supplementary complaint asking the court to halt the construction of the base (see this site). The plaintiffs argued that the DoD never consulted with the plaintiffs, held public hearings, and never informed the plaintiffs that the DoD was conducting its “take into account process.” 

In February 2015, however, the court dismissed the plaintiffs’ complaint and concluded that at this juncture the court could not play further role in protecting the Okinawa dugong (see this site). In April 2015, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal.

As the lawsuit took such a new turn, we at Okinawa Outreach found it important to make the Kasuya-Abe document available to the international community. We asked and obtained permission from the authors, Japanese plaintiffs, and lawyers to upload the document on our website. 

In fact, prior to the uploading of the article on this website, we were able to share the document to Green Peace, which in turn submitted copies of the document to the US embassy in Tokyo during their visit to the embassy on April 30, 2015.  Apparently, their submission of the copies prompted the US embassy staff to abruptly end their meeting (See this site) .

 Mother and Child swim together in the area of Henoko and Oura Bay
 (photo by the Ministry of the Environment)

Significance of the Document

We at Okinawa Outreach believe that the Kasuya-Abe document is significant in the following aspects.

First, the document is the first comprehensive scientific critic available in English of the Okinawa Defense Bureau's evaluation of the impacts of the base on the Okinawa dugong. As such, the document can be read by international experts, interested parties and individuals to learn about the status of the Okinawa dugong, the base construction, and problems of the Bureau’s EIA.

Indeed, the lack of scientific documents, articles and data available in English has been a major obstacle in bringing the issues of the base construction and environmental conservation to the international arena. 

The Bureau’s EIA and many other related documents are understandably all in Japanese. Although we believe that English translations of the EIA exist because the US DoD has to collaborate with the Japanese government, access to such translations proves to be extremely limited (We have obtained a summary of the Bureau's EIA from the Japanese government. Please see for example this site). Also, while Japanese experts and NGOs have produced articles and documents rebutting the Bureau’s EIA, they are mostly in Japanese with a few exceptions.

Now with the Kasuya-Abe document available in English and on the Internet, we can call on international experts and responsible parties to pay attention to the problems of the EIA and the construction of the U.S. base in the dugong habitat of Henoko and Oura Bay. 

Second, the document is significant because it is written by Dr. Kasuya and Dr. Abe. Dr. Kasuya is one of the most prominent Japanese experts on marine mammals (see this site). Former professor at Mie University and Teikyo University of Science and Technology and former researcher/scientist at the the National Research Institute of Fisheries Engineering, Japan's Fisheries Research Agency, he has conducted numerous research on whales, dolphins, and dugongs. Particularly important, in the early 2000s, he led the groundbreaking five year research on the Okinawa dugong by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment (see this site).

Dr. Abe is a lead scientist at the Nature Conservation Society of Japan, one of Japan's oldest and largest environmental NGOs (see this site). Trained in the field of coral biology in Australia and Japan, she has conducted numerous researches on corals. She has also conducted “seagrass watch” in the area of Henoko and Oura Bay. Her knowledge on the ecology of the Henoko and Oura Bay has led her to take strong conservation stance against the base construction plan (see this video clip).

Finally, the simple fact that Dr. Kasyua and Dr. Abe put their names on the document is a stark reminder of the issues of the anonymity of the experts in the Okinawa Defense Buruea’s EIA.  And thus it brings up again the question of the validity of the Bureau's EIA.

The Bureau never made public who the EIA experts were despite numerous requests by NGOs and citizens to release the names of the experts. Given the recent shamble at the Environmental Monitoring Committee set up by the Okinawa Defense Bureau as a mechanism to deal with conservation issues in the course of the construction of the base, where experts advice were ignored and the vice chair has announced his resignation because the Committee “can not function as a mechanism for environmental conservation” (see this site), doubts have re-surfaced as to whether there were really experts in the EIA or to what extent the expert opinions were incorporated in the EIA final statement.

Dugong Statue looks toward Oura Bay.
Apparently real dugongs cannot come to the bay as the Okinawa Defense Bureau conduct  drilling surveys there. 

Implications of the Kasuya-Abe document

Given that Okinawa’s opposition to the base construction is gaining its strongest momentum, we at Okinawa Outreach believes, the availability of the Kasuya-Abe document in English has considerable implications 

In Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, new governor elected in a land slide victory in the 2014 November election on a platform of stopping the base construction, has formed a third party committee to review the land reclamation approval by then governor Hirokazu Nakaima for the construction of the military base (see this site). The third party is reviewing the approval process and documents including the Okinawa Defense Bureau’s EIA. The arguments presented in the Kasuya-Abe documents are sure to be taken into consideration in the committee’s review. The committee is expected to present its findings in July.  And based upon the findings, Governor Onaga will make his decisions as to rescind the land reclamation permit.

On the U.S. side, the Kasuya-Abe document should shed critical light on the DoD’s decision to uncritically incorporate the Okinawa Defense Bureau’s EIA into its analysis of the impacts of the military base on the dugong as part of its "take into account process" ordered by the 2008 court ruling (see this DoD"s "Recommended Findings"). We hope that the DoD take a close look at the Kasuya-Abe document and re-evaluate the Bureau's EIA. We also hope that the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission (MMC) examines the Kasuya-Abe document as well.  The MMC has stated that it intends to review and make comments on the DoD’s analysis on the impacts of the base on the dugong in its 2009 annual report to the Congress (see this site). The MMC has not been able to do so because the DoD has not made its analysis available.

We hope that the Kasuya-Abe document will be widely read and concrete actions will be taken by responsible parties for the conservation of the Okinawa dugong as well as for the conservation of Okinawa's precious environment. 


H.Y.