Society for Tidal Flats and Birds in Tamashima
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The Seto Inland Sea is known as a world-famous scenic spot in Japan for its unparalleled beauty.
The Society for Tidal Flats and Birds in Tamashima, TFBT, is based on Tamashima Island in Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, on the northern central coast of the Seto Inland Sea.
The coastal area of this artificial island has been famous for large tidal flats and sandbanks since ancient times due to the ebb and flow of the tide. It is also shown by the old name of this coast, Kibi-no-anaumi (Sea of holes in Kibi (old name of the prefecture). The shallow sea nurtures incredible numbers of creatures.
However, shallow sea areas are easy for reclamation and landfill. Almost 90% of the tidal flats have been lost to development over the past 80 years or so. Currently, an artificial island “Tamashima Harbour Island”, a disposal site of dredging ship channels, compensates for the lost tidal flats. Little Terns come every year to breed on Harbour Island. Spoon-billed Sandpipers, a Critically Endangered shorebird species with a population of about 200 breeding pairs have also stopped over the artificial island to refuel here on their migration several times in the past, The most recent confirmed record was one in 2021.
TFBT has been conducting surveys on tidal flat organisms and shorebird population, and conservation activities for Little Terns on the Harbour Island and the vicinity, sometimes in cooperation with companies and local governments. We have also been involved in educational activities such as beach litter cleanups and public symposiums on the importance of tidal flats.
TBFT is working to preserve the habitat of these and other creatures in as good a condition as possible and to pass it on to the next generation.
