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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Daikoku Island (Akkeshi)

Daikoku Island (大黒島, Daikoku-jima) is an uninhabited island in Akkeshi, Hokkaidō, Japan. Together with the smaller island of Kojima (小島) to the north, it forms a natural breakwater at the entrance to Akkeshi Bay (厚岸湾). At the southwest tip of the island at an elevation of approximately 105 metres is Akkeshi Lighthouse (厚岸灯台), which began operations on 25 November 1890. Of the island's 107 hectares, 64 are owned by the state, 42 by the municipality, and one is in private hands.

Environment

The island forms part of Akkeshi Prefectural Natural Park and its entire area of 107 hectares is a Special Wildlife Protection Area. It provides an important breeding ground for seabirds, in particular several hundred thousand Leach's storm petrel, as well as the tufted puffin, Japanese cormorant, pelagic cormorant, spectacled guillemot, slaty-backed gull, and rhinoceros auklet. Twelve hectares of the breeding grounds have been designated a Natural Monument. The island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International for its seabird colonies.

Also found on the island are the grey-sided vole and harbour seal. Trees include the green alder, painted maple, and Erman's birch; other plants, Sakhalin knotweed and Parasenecio hastatus.

References

  1. ^ 国指定鳥獣保護区一覧 [List of Wildlife Protection Areas established at a National level] (PDF) (in Japanese). Ministry of the Environment. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  2. ^ 国指定大黒島鳥獣保護区 [Daikoku-jima National Wildlife Protection Area] (PDF) (in Japanese). Ministry of the Environment. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  3. ^ 大黒島海鳥繁殖地 [Daikoku-jima Seabird Breeding Ground] (in Japanese). Akkeshi Town. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  4. ^ 灯台周辺案内 [Guide to the Lighthouses in the vicinity of Kushiro] (in Japanese). Japan Coast Guard. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  5. ^ 厚岸道立自然公園 [Akkeshi Prefectural Natural Park] (in Japanese). Hokkaidō Prefecture. 9 January 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  6. ^ 大黒島海鳥繁殖地 [Daikoku Island Seabird Breeding Grounds] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  7. ^ "Daikoku islet". BirdLife Data Zone. BirdLife International. 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  8. ^ de Guia, Anna Pauline; Saitō Takashi; Ishibashi Yasuyuki; Abe Hisashi (2007). "Taxonomic status of the vole in Daikoku Island, Hokkaido, Japan: examination based on morphology and genetics". Mammal Study. 32 (1). The Mammalogical Society of Japan: 33–44. Retrieved 22 October 2016.

See also