Wetland woes

ENVIRONMENTALISTS from Japan and other
Countries are protesting against a government -funded dike, which has dried
out the Isahaya wetlands in the Nagasaki Prefecture. The once-thriving wet-lands have turned into a muddy cesspool containing dead sea organisms.
Government officials say that the dike
is necessary to reclaim land, control
view and prevent flooding in the low-lands around Isahaya Bay on Kyushu
ialand. Several US environmental groups
have urged the US and Japanese government to rescue the tidal wetlands.
The Isahaya wetlands were the largest
In Japan and one of the richest in the
world once boasting 282 species
including seven endemic and endangered ones. But since the seven-km- long dike dosed the flow of seawater
as April 14, nearly 1,100 hectares of
wetlands have turned into a wasteland
filled with the stench of thousands of
dead oysters and shellfish.