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The Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund

Introduction to Grant Projects

Kosaku Yamaoka, Professor, Kuroshio Science Unit, Multidisciplinary Science Cluster, Research and Education Faculty, Kochi University

Forming bonds between the sea and people in the source area of the Kuroshio Current: establishing a method of conducting field studies using sea kayaks

Research grant

Project Description

Use sea kayaks (hand paddled) to head north along an approximately 700 km length of the Kuroshio Current from its source off the southeast coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines, to the northeast edge of Cagayan Province, Palawi Island. During this process, visit coastal fishing villages and clarify the relationship that the people living there have with the sea in the part of the ocean where the Kuroshio Current flows, in terms of fishing.

Fields
Climate changeMarine resources/foodPreservation of biodiversity and ecosystem
Grant year
FY2010 Research Grants
Grant term
2 years
April 2011 - March 2013
Grant amount
4,260,000 yen
Activity region
East cost, Luzon Island, The Philippines
Second survey of the source of the Kuroshio Current

Overview of the Organization

Kosaku Yamaoka, Professor
Representative
Kosaku Yamaoka, Professor
Profile
Specialist fields
Fish ecology, Kuroshio-area science
Affiliated academic societies
Japanese Society of Fisheries Science, ISJ, The Japanese Coral Reef Society, Japanese Society of Island Studies, Japanese Society for Aquaculture Science, Japan Association for African Studies
Background
Lecturer, Faculty of Agriculture, Kochi University, 1987; Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, Kochi University, 1988; Professor, Marine Core Research Center, Kochi University, 1994; Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, Kochi University, 1999; Professor, Graduate School of Kuroshio Science, Kochi University, 2004;
Collaborators
Akatsuki Yawata, Manager, Kayaking Adventures Churanesia
Research record
Doctoral thesis concerned the feeding ecology and behavior of 20 species of cichlididae fish in Lake Tanganyika, East Africa. After gaining employment at Kochi University, mainly conducted research into red sea bream seasonal territories. Main achievements are as follows.
  • (1) Cichlid Fishes: Behaviour, ecology and evolution. ed by Keenleyside. Chapter 6: Feeding Relationships, pp. 151-172 (1991)
  • (2) Fish Communities in Lake Tanganyika.. ed by Kawanabe, Hori and Nagoshi. Chapter 2: Trophic Ecomorphology of Tanganyikan Cichlids. Pp. 25-56 (1997)
  • (3) Intestinal coiling pattern in the epilithic algalfeeding cichlids of Lake Tanganyika, and its phylogenetic significance. Zoological Journal of Linnean Society, London, 84:235-261 (1985)
  • (4) Territorial behaviour in juvenile red sea bream Pagrus majour and crimson sea bream Evynnis japonica. Fisheries Science, 70:241-246 (2004)