The Remote Island Development Act has undergone its ten-year revision, the sixth revision to date. Scheduled for full implementation in the fiscal year beginning in 2013, preparations of the Remote Island Development Basic Policy and the Remote Islands Development Basic Plan will be carried out at the national, municipal, and prefectural levels. Along with 14 new articles, the revised law will include additional provisions to many existing articles. This paper gives an outline of the law's revision and the background leading up to it.

Fisheries depend on the natural cycle of matter and biological productivity in the ocean. This includes not only the capture productions of wild animals and plants, but also the aquaculture productions of seaweeds that depend on natural nutrient cycles, bivalves depending on phytoplankton and particulate organic matter, and finfishes depending on captured fish stocks. Conservation of coastal and offshore ecosystems and maximization of their biological productivity have fundamental importance for the capture and aquaculture productions to get rid of the stagnation of the last two decades.
Selected Papers No.17

The Ocean Health Index (OHI) released in August by Conservation International and partners is an epoch making initiative that evaluates the sustainability of ocean health comprehensively, globally and by country through ten public goals, including coastal protection, biodiversity, clean waters, and artisanal fishing opportunities . Japan scored an overall index of 69, ranking 11th out of 171 EEZs evaluated. Global score was 60. The true purpose of OHI is not to rank or score higher but to understand the state of ocean health, learn from others, and globally conserve the ocean for our future generations.