Patrol Launched to Collect Debris from Difficult-To-Access Beaches in Uwakai SeaJuly 22 kickoff at Tojima, Ehime Prefecture collects roughly 30 tons of debris

The Nippon Foundation and residents of Ehime Prefecture collected roughly 30 tons of debris at Uwajima City on July 22 as part of an effort to reduce ocean debris. The activity was part of the Setouchi Oceans X project, being carried out by The Nippon Foundation and four prefectures bordering the Seto Inland Sea to find comprehensive measures to address the issue of ocean debris. A special landing vehicle was used to collect debris that had washed up on the coast of Tojima, an island off the coast of Uwajima City, in areas that are difficult to access, with 120 people working for close to one hour. Participants included Ehime Governor Tokihiro Nakamura, Uwajima Mayor Fumiaki Okahara, members of local fishery cooperatives, local junior high school students, and The Nippon Foundation Chairman Yohei Sasakawa.

This day’s event marked the beginning of a plan to remove washed-up debris from 107 primary locations over the next three years. Gov. Nakamura called on everyone to join the effort to protect the treasure that is the Seto Inland Sea, and Mr. Sasakawa noted that participants had gathered to work together to make Uwakai clean and beautiful again, and asked that local residents continue to work together going forward.
The day’s expenses, including the cost of renting the vehicle, were covered by a roughly 30 million yen donation from three local motorboat racing organizations: Boat Race Kojima (Okayama Prefecture), Boat Race Miyajima (Hiroshima Prefecture), and Boat Race Marugame (Kagawa Prefecture), all of which are endorsing the activity.

There are different types of ocean debris, including drifting debris, debris that has washed onshore, and debris on the ocean floor. According to a survey carried out by Ehime Prefecture in 2022, there are roughly 560 locations in the Uwakai Sea that are designated as coastlines that are difficult for people to access, and the volume of debris that has washed ashore and accumulated in these locations is the equivalent the payloads of up to 32,000 light trucks. Of these locations, 107 were designated as priority locations with particularly large amounts of accumulated debris to be targeted by this project over the next three years.

With no wharfs or piers, regular boats cannot dock along these coastal areas, meaning that in some cases people have not been able to carry out cleanup activities and large amounts of debris have accumulated. For this day’s operation, a special chartered vessel with a crusher for hard plastic and a compressor for plastic foam on board was used to collect the debris. The cleanup was not limited to Tojima and also covered Hiburi Island and nearby areas, and collected a total of 30 tons of debris.

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Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman, The Nippon Foundation

Tokihiro Nakamura, Governor of Ehime Prefecture

Setouchi Oceans X project

The Setouchi Oceans X project was launched in December 2020 by four prefectures bordering the Seto Inland Sea (Okayama, Hiroshima, Kagawa, and Ehime) and The Nippon Foundation as a comprehensive project to address ocean debris. Using the Seto Inland Sea, which is semi-enclosed and therefore receives relatively little inflow of outside ocean debris, as its field of operations, the project has four main components: (1) Surveys and research; (2) Coordination between companies and local communities; (3) Raising awareness, education, and activities; and (4) Policymaking.