One of the territorial waters reference points disappearing off the small island off Hokkaido.
As a result of an investigation by the Japan Coast Guard on the “Esambe Nasaki Kitajima” off the Sea of Okhotsk, Hokkaido, which is one of the reference points that determine the scope of Japanese territorial waters, it was found that the island was gone. The Japan Coast Guard plans to investigate the tide level in the shallows confirmed nearby and determine whether it will eventually be recognized as territorial waters.
“Esambe Nasakita Kojima”, located approximately 500 meters off the coast of Sarufutsu Village in northern Hokkaido, is one of the reference points that determine the extent of the Japanese territorial waters, called the border islands.
According to the Japan Coast Guard, the survey in 1987, when the island was discovered, was about 1.4 meters high from the sea level, but in October last year, local residents said that the island was gone. From April to May, we surveyed the water depth around the island.
As a result, there was nothing out of the sea surface at high tide, and the existence of “islands” could not be confirmed.
On the other hand, because the reef was found in a place where the water depth was very shallow, the Japan Coast Guard would be recognized as a territorial sea standard like the island if it came out from the sea surface at low tide. I will investigate the tide level in detail over the years.
According to the Japan Coast Guard, if “Esambe Nasakokujima” is not “Low Tide Highland”, the territorial waters of Japan will decrease by 0.03 square kilometers.