Calculation of the ocean Living Planet Index (LPI) for 2010 shows a decrease of 49% from that of 1970, revealing a sharp decline in marine biodiversity. At the same time, as the Gross Marine Product (GMP), or the annual economic value produced by the ocean, has reached 2.5 trillion US dollars, or 300 trillion Japanese yen, the crisis in marine biodiversity and ecosystems demands that we understand and respond to it as an economic crisis for human society.

From 2016, Kochi University will reorganize its Faculty of Agriculture into the Faculty of Agriculture and Marine Science. Within this Faculty, the Department of Marine Resource Science will take a comprehensive and varied approach to the resources of marine life, seawater, and seafloor minerals and develop students with the basic knowledge necessary to manage them sustainably. The curriculum will include successful completion of the mandatory Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management (ICOM) Education Program, carried out cooperatively by the five national universities in Shikoku. The department will be the only one in the country where undergraduates can study ocean management from an integrated humanities/science perspective.

In the mountainous inland area of Tochigi Prefecture, a system has been successfully developed for raising Tiger Pufferfish using low salinity environmental water and heat from thermal springs in place of seawater. The development of this system, employed at an on-land enclosed, circulating, mariculture facility, marks the first time Tiger Pufferfish have been successfully bred throughout their life cycle in Japan. The system is currently able to produce for shipment 25 tons of fish per year. In future, we hope to continue to make use of local resources, promote the use of reusable energy, and contribute to the revitalization of the region.