Okinotorishima

Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / height Missing

Okinotorishima (Japanese沖ノ鳥島, dt " bird island in the open sea "; Parece Vela or even Douglas Reef ) is a 4.8 km long and 1.6 km wide and largely untermeerisches atoll with two rocks at low tide from the waters of the Philippine Sea project on the Palau- Kyushu ridge in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. As part of the municipality of Ogasawara, it belongs to the same sub-prefecture and thus to the prefecture of Tokyo. From the Japanese capital Tokyo is 1740 km away and the southernmost island and the only "real " Atoll Japan. Japan has even upscale atolls as the Daitō Islands.

History

Okinotorishima belongs since 1931 to Japan. According to the Peace Treaty of San Francisco in 1952 Okinotorishima was transferred to the United States together with the Ogasawara archipelago, in 1968 gave back both territories again.

Erosion and " sinking " of the rocks and Countermeasures

Both islands are threatening to permanently disappear under the sea because of erosion and climate change and the associated increase in sea level. Therefore, in 1987 Kitakojima (北 小岛, dt " Nordinselchen " ) in the west (6.4 m²) and Higashikojima (东 小岛, dt " Ostinselchen ") was in the east (1.6 m ) fixed by extensive construction. To the south was an artificial island, Minamikojima (南 小岛, dt " Südinselchen ") created. After the mounts each of the islands has a circular floor plan with 60 meters in diameter, which corresponds to an area of ​​2827 square meters per well island. The artificial land area amounts to a total of around 8482 m². 140 meters east-northeast of the artificial island is in shallow water a platform on stilts, with a rectangular plan of 50 by 100 meters. The platform has a helipad and a three-story building with a meteorological station. The fortifications are supervised by a regional branch of the Ministry of Transport ( Keihin ) and repaired.

The rocks are located in the western part of a lagoon formed by an undersea coral reef. This extends 4.5 km in east-west and 1.7 km north to south with an area of ​​about 5 sq. km. The lagoon is about 3 to 4.6 m deep with numerous slightly raised spots. The limiting reef is in east-west direction arrow-shaped with the largest expansion in the East. In the southwest there is a 250 m from the artificial platform removes the input of a 15 m wide and 6 m deep boat channel.

Since 2006, the State Fisheries Agency of Japan has planted 40,000 new corals in this area. This is special because the " eggs " of the three coral species used here are from this coral itself. For breeding they are brought into a warmer, less turbulent waters of the southwestern island of Okinawa. After rearing the coral be brought back to Okinotorishima. There they will then stop the erosion of strategically important for Japan Islands. The corals are supervised by the marine biological station on the platform.

Status dispute

The current status of the two country surveys is contested by the People's Republic of China since 2004. According to their view, the two islands are not " islands", but only " rock ". Due to the current status claim is about 400,000 km ² marine area is justified under the Convention of Japan. However, it goes in this dispute not only economic interests but for the People's Republic of China, the better military control of the waters around Taiwan.

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