Occurrence of a large-scale red tide in the Sea of Harima
—Elicitation of Water Pollution Problems in Closed Water Areas—

Steady economic growth and establishment of environmental policies led to general improvement for the environment in Japan. However, changes of public life style and increased urbanization has made the impacts of human activities on the enviornment more complicated and diverse. For example, pollution of closed water areas such as lakes and inner bays could not be controlled solely by regulation of individual sources. Therefore, development of facilities such as sewerage systems, to serve an increasingly sprawling population became necessary.

Since ancient times the Seto Inland Sea has been blessed with an excellent landscape of white sands and green pine trees along the coasts It was also rich in fishery resources, However, industries and human population concentrated along its coastlines. This resulted in extensive shoreline modification and water pollution by the 1970’s.

In 1972, a large-scale red tide occurred in the Sea of Harima and caused 7.1 billion yen in damage to the local fishery (mainly on aquacultures). Environmental protection measures were strongly needed for the Seto Inland Sea.

< back