From pharmaceutical, fermented food, and industries to day-to-day existence, we owe a debt of gratitude to microbes.The base of those useful microbes currently holds an important position in national strategy.The sea is an expansive and uncharted biosphere and the deep-sea is a cornucopia of submerged marine microbial resources.The drafting of a plan toward the securing of and protection of rights to microbial resources in the sea is considered a pressing issue for Japan.

As the song "the sea is extensive and great" reflects, Ise Bay is also extensive.Extensive but there are many people who are unaware of the changes.I don't know the difference between yesterday and today but looking back after 20~30 years, people will be surprised of the breadth of the changes.We see reflections of ourselves in the sea.In the long run, the things that illuminate and cloud up that mirror depend on the people and the perspective of "home" as a shared possession of the nation is demanded of us.

Recently, it is pointed out that the Sea of Okhotsk and the surrounding environment (the Pan- Okhotsk region) is very sensitive to global warming.The amount of sea ice production in the Sea of Okhotsk greatly decreases by the global warming, resulting in a considerable decrease in dense water production.This dense water is transported from the northwestern continental region in the Sea of Okhotsk to the Oyashio region through the typical water circulation system;hence, the dense water plays an important role as the transporter to the region of nutrients,especially iron originated from the Amur River.Therefore, the global warming will weaken the biological productivity of this sea area due to the large decrease of sea ice production.This article calls for the establishment of an observation and research network for the Pan- Okhotsk region to enable global warming forcasts.