Fish and Seashell Sampling Surveys Around KIX Seawalls

Kansai Airports today announces the launch of annual sampling surveys to gauge the abundance of fish around the seawalls of Kansai International Airport (KIX). 

This survey will be carried out with support from fisheries stakeholders, aiming to measure the population of fish and shellfish in the habitat around KIX, as well as to enrich the marine resources in Osaka Bay. Samples caught for this survey will first be counted and measured. Then, if the fish are commercially highly valued species, they will be released into the sea near the coastal seawalls to help expand fisheries resources. If the caught samples are 30cm or smaller specimens of red-spotted grouper (epinephelus akaara)―the high class fish which Osaka prefecture has been striving to be identified with as its brand―they will be provided to Osaka prefecture’s  organization for spawning with an aim to enhance the population of such fish in Osaka Bay.

Aspiring to further develop as the airports that cohabit in greater harmony with their surroundings,  Kansai Airports Group will continue to drive initiatives to improve the marine environment.

All samples of commercially high-value fish other than red-spotted grouper such as rockfish, marbled rockfish, red sea bream, thread-sail filefish and octopus will be released into the coastal sea area. Most red-spotted groupers, if equal to or smaller than 30cm in size, will be sent to the fish cultivating center of Osaka Prefecture Fisheries Development Foundation as parent fish for its stock enhancement of Osaka Bay while the rest will be released back into the sea near the KIX seawalls.