Ninth Circuit Hears Fight Pitting Planned US Base and Okinawa's Dugong
The dugong once thrived along the shores of Okinawa, the smallest of Japan’s five main islands located about 400 miles south of the country’s mainland.
A relative of the manatee, the dugong is a medium-sized marine mammal that prowls the shallow waters around the coastal regions of various islands and continents.
The dugong has dark gray or bronze skin, a fluked tail and a downturned muzzle. The animals grow up to 9 feet long, weigh up to 1,000 pounds and can live as long as 70 years.
Prevalent in Australia and the islands of the South Pacific, the dugong has begun to slowly vanish around the waters of Okinawa, which represents the northernmost reach of its range.
The dugong has played an outsize role in the culture of Okinawa, with archaeological excavations revealing ancient societies used the butterfly-shaped bones that form the creature’s spine as talismans or props in various rituals of the hunt.
In the traditional folklore of the people of Okinawa, who are ethnically and culturally distinct from mainland Japanese, a fisherman captures a dugong that promises to save the fisherman’s life if he is released.
The fisherman complies and the dugong tells him of an imminent tsunami. When the fisherman returns to the village, he is able to use this knowledge to save himself, his family and his entire village.
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