Government will use sand-creating electrodes to save Okinotorishima
The Yomiuri reports that the Japanese government is attempting to save its territorial claim to Okinotorishima by using electrodes to boost the size of the tiny rocks:
The new technology is called the electrodeposition method. The Research Institute for Ocean Economics (RIOE), an ocean preservation foundation backed by businesses, has jointly studied the method with companies.
By placing active electrodes in seawater, calcium and magnesium ions are collected around negative-charged electrodes. The ions form sandlike chemical compounds such as calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide.
During the demonstration conducted in Yoronjima island, Kagoshima Prefecture, chemical compounds adhered to the surface of the electrodes about a month after they were electrified. The experiment confirmed that in about a five-month period, coral adheres to electrodes and can live on the surfaces. RIOE plans to conduct the same experiment on Okinotorishima island in fiscal 2010.
The article does not mention the cost of the proposed plan, but I’m guessing it isn’t cheap.
Full RSS Feed
The problem is that Okinotorishima is eroding due to natural causes and climate change, so it may not be longer recognized as an island. With the island status goes the Exclusive Economic Zone, 200 nautical miles radius where you can harvest any natural resource (fish, oil…); Japan has got one of the largest total EEZ in the world (6th).
So any methods to fight erosion are tested: coral transplants, electrodes or others; researches are funded by the government and the Japan Foundation, a right-wing organization.
Rate this comment:
0 
0