(Front row from left) Miku Watanabe (Osaka Prefecture), Nao Naoe (Mie Prefecture), Maki Kobayashi (Wakayama Prefecture), Ayano Sorano (Wakayama Prefecture)
(Back row from left) Miyu Yuda (Ishikawa Prefecture), Mizuki Hara (Nara Prefecture), Ayako Oba (Hyogo Prefecture)
Connecting the Brilliance of Life - Protection and Breeding of Seals -
Last spring, a book titled "Sleeping and Waking Seal Rescue Team" was published. The author is Masako Okazaki, who worked as a keeper for 10 years at the Okhotsk Tokkari Center, the only seal protection facility in Japan located in Monbetsu City. When you read this book, which is full of love for seals, you will be strongly drawn to the charm of the lovely seals, and at the same time, it will give you an awareness of the various problems that come to light from conservation activities. About 40 years ago, in 1987, the center started with four seals in the garden of a private house, and currently has 27 spotted seals and ringed seals. Recently, videos and photos of the seals posted daily by the center's staff on social media have become a hot topic, and the number of tourists and children who come to see and experience the seals is increasing. Miku Watanabe, head of the Seal Land Exhibition and Breeding, explores the secrets of the magical charm of seals, and the value of having a shelter in Monbetsu City, a city of 20,000 people known for fishing and drift ice tourism. I visited Mr. Ayako Oba, the head of the Seal Sea Paradise Exhibition and Keeper.
All 7 keepers are women from outside Hokkaido
The Okhotsk Tokkari Center has "Seal Land" where you can protect, display and breed seals, and "Sea Paradise" where you can actually experience feeding seals, which opened in 2015 (Heisei 27). In addition, all of the keepers involved in protection and breeding at this facility are women, and they are from outside Hokkaido. What motivated them to become involved in the protection and breeding of seals in Okhotsk, where the temperature drops to -20°C during the harsh winter and is exposed to the cold winds that blow across the drift ice fields?
Ms. Watanabe I was born in Osaka and will soon start working for 4 years. I like animals in general, so I went to an open campus of a vocational school and entered the school hoping to become an aquarium keeper, majoring in marine mammals. In the summer when I graduated, I had a job posting in Monbetsu City, and I was invited by Masako Okazaki, who kindly instructed me. The environment where I can work with a small number of people instead of a large number of people is also suitable for me, and I feel that it was good.
Ms. Ohba I am from Hyogo prefecture. Originally, I wanted to become a dolphin trainer, so I went to a marine vocational school. I was quite shy and was worried that things would not go well at my internship site. I was only interested in dolphins, but from then on, I started to think, “I want to know more about seals. It's the trigger.
Return to the wild and environment surrounding seals
In the beginning, most of the seals that were protected were those that got lost in fishing nets and were bycatch and were injured, but recently more debilitated pups are being protected. In addition, the survival rate of the protected seals is about 70%, and the life and death of the seals is a constant daily task for the keepers.
Ms. Watanabe One of the joys of the job is when the seals we rescued recover and rejuvenate and are released back into the ocean. There is a dilemma in training and breeding for reintroduction, but I think that this is the original way of conservation activities.
Ms. Ohba At Seal Sea Paradise, we want you to enjoy the feeding experience, and we are trying to help you learn more about seals and become interested in them through this joyful experience. Before that, although the center's facilities are limited environments, the most important thing is that the seals can live safely and healthily.
Ms. Watanabe In recent years, the number of protected seals has tended to decrease. Fewer seals are a good thing, but on the flip side, I wonder if the birth of life itself is in a harsh environment, such as the decrease in seals giving birth on drift ice, the decrease in drift ice, and the relationship between fish that feed on them.
Also, in terms of coexistence with living things, we have the understanding and support of local fishermen, such as releasing seals, which are sometimes regarded as pests, and reporting their protection.
Ms. Ohba What I want to convey through the protection and breeding of seals is that global warming is by no means someone else's problem. For seals that give birth and raise their young on sea ice, declining sea ice is a fatal problem. When one species falls into crisis, the balance around it also collapses. I want people to become interested in environmental issues through seals, so I try to spread the word as much as possible.
![IMG_E2634[3113].JPG](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/3679f9_1d9812d58de6487d8b05a0a2b1531f66~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_938,h_577,q_90/3679f9_1d9812d58de6487d8b05a0a2b1531f66~mv2.webp)
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Last December, on the 27th of December, a seal was released into the sea with a transmitter attached. In recent years, joint research with universities and research institutes has been undertaken on the ecology and environment of seals, for which there are still many unknowns. Ms. Watanabe says that he is encouraged by the voices of children who visit, experience, and watch SNS, and want to become zookeepers in the future. He also said that in the future, his dream is to breed between the protected individuals that he saved. Ms. Oba, who warmly watches over the young keepers, said, "I want to support the young generation who come to take on the challenge of working with seals and have dreams. If not."
On the day of the release of protected seals, I met Masako Okazaki, the author and veterinarian of "Sleeping and Awakemo Seal Rescue Team" for the first time in a long time. Her kind gaze and smile were directed at the young, junior keepers along with the released seals.
It is said that "the sea is the cradle of life", but the fundamental value of having the only seal protection facility in Japan in this drift ice-covered Chimonbetsu City is the cuteness of the seven female keepers who "connect the brilliance of life". It may be in the reality of the existence of seals.
* References
"Sleep and wake up seal rescue team" Masako Okazaki (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha) 2022
"Okhotsk Ecosystem and its Conservation" (Hokkaido University Press) 2013
"White Sea, Frozen Sea" Masaaki Aota (Tokai University Press) 1993
*Information about the Okhotsk Tokkari Center
〒094-0031 1 Ocean Park, Monbetsu City, Hokkaido
Business hours 10:00~17:00
Entrance fee ・Seal land (feeding fee, etc.)
200 yen for adults, 100 yen for elementary/middle/high school students
・Seal Sea Paradise
Adults 500 yen Elementary/middle/high school 300 yen
Contact Okhotsk Garinko Tower Co., Ltd.
℡ 0158-24-8000 https://o-tower.jp/sp/
\Who wrote this article/
Kazuo Furuya / Born in Kunneppu Town. After spending his school days in Osaka, in 1976 he worked at the Kiyosato town hall as a social education director. At the age of 40, he left the educational administration, and since then he has been involved in local administration such as planning, finance, and general affairs, and retired. A founding member of Okhotsk Terroir, currently a board member and co-publisher of HARU.
People in OKHOTSK
People who live in Okhotsk. Stories about their activities and thoughts.
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Emiko Akiyama
Observing the richness and human activities brought about by the diversity of Lake Tofutsu
When I was in elementary school, there was still a thicket of trees in Itabashi. I used to wonder why my fun places and playgrounds were being destroyed, such as wading through fields of pampas grass to get frog eggs. When I was in Nakazato village, my grandmother told me that there is a pipe buried under this field that carries electricity to Tokyo.
From the editor
HARU No. 5 is the only seal protection facility in Japan, and through the perspective of a female keeper who is involved in the protection and breeding of seals, I tried to think about the essential value cultivated by the nature of Okhotsk and what the "brightness of life" is. . February in Okhotsk marks the season for drift ice tourism, and this year, despite the signs that the corona crisis has subsided to some extent, many tourists, including foreigners, are regaining their liveliness for the first time in three years.
The Okhotsk Tokkari Center is also visited by many tourists who have experienced the drift ice sea on board the drift ice sightseeing boat Garinko, and enjoy interacting with the adorable seals. As the two zookeepers told us, we hope that the ice floes and the protected seals will deepen the interest of many people in nature and environmental issues. , I think it is important to think, learn, and act on what we can do to keep this “brightness of life” alive. (Furuya)
HARU vol.05
February 2023 issue
Published by Okhotsk Terroir (Representative Director: Hiroshi Dikoku) Published by: Kazuo Furuya, Shinichi Chonan
Editing and design / Ezura Farm (Akito Ezura)
Interview/Photo/Kazuo Furuya
Photo courtesy of Okhotsk Tokkari Center, Jitsugyo no Nihonsha
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