Japan government OKs bill to better protect deep-sea creatures

March 1, 2019

Tokyo--The Japanese government adopted a bill to better protect deep-sea creatures by restricting seabed development, at a cabinet meeting Friday.

The bill to revise Japan's nature conservation law calls for regulating seafloor mineral extraction and bottom trawling at depths of more than 200 meters in Japan's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.

The bill also envisions the establishment of a system to designate nature conservation areas in such deep waters in order to restrict activities that may change seafloor topography.

Unique creatures such as giant squid and cold-water corals live in deep oceans, where sunlight does not reach. But the creatures are not sufficiently protected by law.

The Environment Ministry hopes that the Diet, the country's parliament, will pass the bill into law during the ongoing Diet session for effectuation in spring 2020, government officials said. Jiji Press