Ehime National Parks | Our Environmental Conservation & Coral Conservation & Town: Ainan Town and the Nishikai Sightseeing Boat [3/4]

The sea around Ainan Town, located at the southern tip of Ehime Prefecture, is an area designated as a national park. Coral conservation and beach cleanups are carried out by the Ainan Town Office, businesses, and people from outside Ainan Town.

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Ainan Town Hall

Located in the southernmost part of Shikoku's Ehime Prefecture, Ainan Town is an area blessed with a rich natural environment, including the abundant sea and mountains represented by the Ashizuri-Uwakai National Park. The climate is warm throughout the year, and you can see coral and tropical fish.

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Table of Contents
Beach clean-up activities spanning generations for over 30 years
Underwater conservation in national parks | Coral conservation activities
Effective utilization of fishing villages and town conservation marine industry "UMIGYO"
More Articles and Outside Resources ｜Southern tip of Ehime, Ainan Town, Nishikai Sightseeing Boat

Beach clean-up activities spanning generations for over 30 years

Many people gather at the parking lot of the Saikai Tourist Boat

With the slogan "Give back a little to the ocean of our hometown," participants take a break from their everyday lives and think a little about the ocean while picking up trash. This beach clean-up activity will mark its 31st year in 2025.

Coral colonies have been growing in the sea off Ehime for decades. In fact, it has only been discovered recently that many corals over 300 years old have been discovered. The rich seas have remained since the time when samurai lived there during the Edo period 300 years ago. In recent years, they have become famous among marine researchers.

Perhaps because the name of Ainan Town is gradually becoming known, more and more people from outside the town are participating in our activities.

This activity was originally started by an old man who has been diving in these waters for over 40 years. In 2025, he will be 74 years old, but he is still active as a guide instructor. The people who have been helping us since then are still supporting our activities, and recently new people have joined us, and the number of participants has increased.

More than 50 people participated in the 2025 activity. This activity is held every year in the last week of June, and anyone who has obtained a C-card can participate.

Our activities began to be recognized widely, and in 2025 we received an award from Ehime Bank. Standing on the right is my grandfather, a 74-year-old active guide instructor. On the left is me.

Underwater conservation in national parks | Coral conservation activities

In 2025, the guide instructor, who will be 74 years old, established the "Ainan Coral Protection Council" shortly after starting the beach cleanup. He gathered local volunteers and created an organization to carry out coral conservation activities. Activities will begin in the winter when the high water temperatures have ended.

Line transect method: A 100m line is drawn on the seabed, and the bottom sediment is examined every 50cm to check the degree of coral coverage. Spot check method: An observer swims for 15 minutes and visually checks the degree of coral coverage, size, and species preference.

We have been observing these at 10 locations every year for over 10 years, and have been keeping a record of the data.

The coral community in Ainan Town has been gradually increasing since around 2014. Although the coral was damaged once in 2018 by a large typhoon, it has now recovered and new coral babies can be observed every year.

Located at the southern tip of Ehime Prefecture, Ainan Town continues to enjoy abundant nature, living up to its name as a special protected area of the national park, but it also faces other major problems. As the population declines, it is becoming more difficult to pass on the skills, culture, and history that have been developed up until now. I, Takahashi, am 44 years old, and there is a huge gap in the generation above me. I feel that the lack of succession of skills, culture, and history is a major problem even within Japan.

Another big goal for the future is to pass it on to the next generation.
This is where the marine industry "UMIGYO" comes in, which will be discussed later.

Effective utilization of fishing villages and town conservation marine industry "UMIGYO"

"UMIGYO" is the name of an initiative promoted by the Fisheries Agency to revitalize fishing villages. It was formulated in 2022, and in 2023 Ainan Town was certified as a "UMIGYO" promotion model district.

Ainan Town was chosen as a model district for promoting the effective use of fishing villages because it has a thriving fishing industry and a rich ocean, including a national park. This became a major driving force for Ainan Town, where population decline is a major issue, to create a town of the future.

Maritime "UMIGYO" Local Government Initiatives

Many meetings were held to discuss how Ainan Town could continue to exist, with people from various industries, including fishing, aquaculture, tourism, food and beverage, accommodation, universities, government ministries, and banks, coming together and led by the residents rather than the town office. Many different things were discussed at the "UMIGYO" meetings.

Among these, "education" became an important theme that different businesses could agree on. Combining education and tourism to welcome visitors from outside the town as a whole is likely to become an important goal for the future.

Personally, I have begun to focus on "welcoming people from outside through wide-area collaboration" while utilizing the abundant ocean in the national park. This is the GreenFins initiative, which I will introduce later.

National Geographic

Before introducing GreenFins, let me tell you something. As part of the maritime industry "UMIGYO" initiative, Ainan Town was featured in National Geographic.
▽National Geographic website (external link)
https://special.nikkeibp.co.jp/atclh/TS/25/ainan_umidas0826/

They are trying to revitalize the fishing village that is on the verge of disappearing and bring back the town's vitality. The entire process has been covered and published as a single story. Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of National Geographic, Ainan Town is being introduced with the main theme of "the sea" and a focus on the people working in the background.

Green Fins

It has been decided that "GreenFins" will be introduced in 2025 as part of a wide-area collaboration. GreenFins is an international certification that sets out model rules for conducting economic activities while protecting the environment, focusing on diving and snorkeling. There are many things that we normally do, such as avoiding contact with living creatures and not scattering harmful substances, but we also thought it would be good to establish rules on a wide scale, such as avoiding anchoring as much as possible, so we introduced it to this region. This is part of the marine industry "UMIGYO" and is one of the projects I am working on.

The good thing about GreenFins is that it is a system that cannot be acquired by a single business. Acquisition is only permitted if the local government also participates. We believe that it is meaningful not to simply acquire qualifications or certifications on an individual basis, but to aim for acquisition as a region as a whole, including the local government.

It's important not only to protect the ocean, but also to let local people know how amazing and precious Ainan Town's ocean is. By continuing various activities, such as our regular conservation activities and the introduction of Green Fins, we were able to create opportunities for Ainan Town residents to dive in the local ocean. Everyone, including the locals, thinks they know about the ocean, but surprisingly, they don't. We are starting town development by letting people know about the preciousness of Ainan Town's ocean, which has been designated a special protected area in the national park.