With the belief that “in order to convey the charms of Ogasawara Village, we must first learn about them ourselves,”
three members of Nichirei's Sustainability Strategy Division headed for Ogasawara Village.

The Ogasawara Maru took them 24 hours from Takeshiba, Tokyo.
What awaited them after the long boat ride was a beautiful environment with abundant nature and living creatures in a slow-moving stream of time.

After arriving on Chichijima, they first headed for the Ogasawara Marine Center, which is using part of Nichirei's property. The center is engaged in conservation activities, including the protection and breeding of green sea turtles.

First, to learn about green sea turtles, they attended a sea turtle classroom at the Ogasawara Marine Center.

Green sea turtles are one of the creatures that are said to have been greatly reduced due to degradation of nesting beach environment and overhunting. In recent years, however, the population is said to be recovering due to conservation efforts.

After taking a classroom lecture on sea turtles, they experienced cleaning the shells of green sea turtles.

Turtles can develop skin diseases if dirt and moss on their shells and bodies are left unattended.
Turtles in the wild clean their shells by having small creatures such as fish eat the dirt or by rubbing their shells against coral or rocks, but turtles kept in aquariums at the Center cannot do so and must be cared for by human hands.

Therefore, shell cleaning is very important.

Next to Futami Port, where the Ogasawara Maru docks, lies Omura Beach, a beautiful beach of "coral dust," shards of coral that have broken off.

After hatching, baby green sea turtles have a habit of heading toward the brightest direction. On natural beaches without artificial lights, they can easily find their way to the brighter ocean side rather than the mountain side and safely return to the sea.
However, on Omura Beach, which is close to the main street of Chichijima, some turtles are attracted to the city lights and unfortunately fali to reach the ocean, sometimes getting hit by cars.


Therefore, the Ogasawara Marine Center protects the eggs laid at Omura Beach and the center's nesting sites in an artificial hatchery. The eggs are incubated under human supervision in condition that closely resemble nature within a simulated sandy beach environment.

The three Nichirei members also experienced the actual burial of green sea turtle eggs in the artificial hatchery's sandy beach.
First, a hole is dug deep enough for the eggs to be laid, to a depth where an adult's arm goes in up to the elbow.

In addition, the bottom half of the hole was widened horizontally to form a pot-like shape, and after about 15 minutes, the hole was large enough to hold the eggs.
They carefully bury each egg, hoping that it will grow up in a hole that replicates the nesting hole dug by the mother turtle.

A coastal and marine environment remaining clean and unspoiled  is essential for green sea turtles to lay their eggs in peace. In other words, protecting the beautiful sea is also linked to protecting the future of green sea turtles.

This time, they also participated in the "TOKYO ZERO MARINE LITTER  ACTION " organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Environmental Public Corporation . Together with about 20 participants, including local residents, tourists, and students, we cleaned up the Omura Beach.

Microplastics are pieces of plastic debris with a diameter of 5 mm or less. It is said that such litter can accumulate toxic chemicals in the bodies of living creatures through the food chain, and may even affect our bodies as we consume the fish.

They picked up such small microplastics one by one with their bare hands.

In addition, there was another important event this time.
It was to return two green sea turtles—named Heart and Rock— that had been carefully nurtured for a year at the Sumida Aquarium to the waters of the Ogasawara Islands.

Mr. Fujiwara, a staff member at the Sumida Aquarium, gently places Heart and Rock on the beach.
Some turtles do not ride the waves well when returning to the sea and end up back on the beach.
Behind Mr. Fujiwara, three Nichirei members also watched over them.

Then, two turtles naturally moved toward the ocean.
They disappeared from sight. Everyone from Sumida Aquarium and the Nichirei members gazed out at the sea for a while, hoping two turtles will survive and grow up in the wild and return to the Ogasawara Islands.

There are only seven species of sea turtles in the world.
Of these, the green sea turtle is the only one that eats seaweed.
Green sea turtles eating seaweed prevents excessive growth of seagrass beds and maintains the balance of ecosystems such as coral reefs, which are home to seaweed and marine life.


The three said that protecting such rare species is important for Nichirei, which has been dealing with nature and living creatures through food.

The Nichirei members felt anew the importance of protecting living things through contact with green sea turtles and coastal cleanup activities.
We will continue to do what we can as Nichirei in conserving biodiversity one by one.

Part 3: The Future of Sumida Aquarium and Nichirei (tentative) (scheduled to be released in May) will provide background information on the agreement and the possibilities that will open up as a result of the collaboration.