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On Tuesday, August 19th and Wednesday, August 20th, we held “Suruga Bay DAY ~Let’s Take a Look Inside Suruga Bay~,” featuring two programs: “2,500m Deep! Suruga Bay Deep Sea Tour” and “From the Deep Sea to the Future! Suruga Bay Exploration for Kids and Youth.” Set in Suruga Bay, Japan’s deepest bay at 2,500m, Shizuoka TV, researchers, and local students collaborated to introduce the deep sea world through cutting-edge footage and present research by junior and senior high school students. Over the two days, participants of all ages were invited to think about the future of our oceans.
2,500m Deep! Suruga Bay Deep Sea Tour
The first half of the event featured a screening of the “Suruga Bay Deep Sea Tour,” a collaboration between Shizuoka TV and the Marine Open Innovation Institute. Karitake Suzuki, director of the Juvenile Aquarium; Shohei Ito, founder of FullDepth Inc.; and Yoshikazu Saito, director of Shizuoka Television’s “Deep Sea WANTED,” took the stage to offer a multifaceted introduction to the charms of Suruga Bay, Japan’s deepest ocean, located at the foot of Mount Fuji, the country’s tallest mountain.
The event also included observing deep-sea creatures such as oarfish and sand lances captured on an underwater drone. They also explained why juvenile deep-sea fish can be observed at the foot of the harbor and the “deep sea boundary” beyond 200 meters, where light cannot reach.
From the Deep Sea to the Future! Suruga Bay Exploration for Kids & Youth
“From the Deep Sea to the Future! Suruga Bay Exploration for Kids & Youth” is a program where high school and junior high school students from Numazu and Shizuoka cities in Shizuoka Prefecture present their research findings.
Yuki Yoshizawa, a third-year student at Numazu National College of Technology, reported on deep-sea surveys in Suruga Bay, sharing videos and images of the creatures spotted there. The student-led deep-sea survey project, which began in 2016, began at a depth of 90m in its first year and will reach a depth of 2,030m by 2022. Images captured using drones and improved equipment successfully captured clear images of a variety of deep-sea creatures, including salps, spider crabs, and six-striped sharks.
Next, Yuzuki Watanabe, a third-year student at Kato Gakuen Gyoshu Junior High School, gave a presentation titled “Understanding the Impact of Global Warming on Marine Life in Suruga Bay,” in which she discussed the discovery of creatures native to warmer regions in Suruga Bay, as well as changes in the color and size of the blue damselfish.
Mizuki Mano, a fourth-year student at Numazu National College of Technology, explained the ecology of the deep-sea pill bug, the giant isopod, and spoke passionately about her desire to convey the charm of living creatures to more people through the ongoing Izu-Mito Sea Paradise. The final speaker, Yurika Tsuchiya, a third-year student at Shimizu Second Junior High School, spoke about her experiments and the robot she created, proposing future applications for the theme “Robots Utilizing the Characteristics of Deep-Sea Organisms/Applying TRIZ Thinking to the SDGs.” Her call for cooperation for the future drew thunderous applause from the audience.
▼The event is available on the official BLUE OCEAN DOME YouTube channel. Please take a look.
【#098】2,500m Deep! Suruga Bay “Deep Sea” Tour (ZERI JAPAN/Shizuoka Television/Marine Open Innovation Institute)
【#099】From the Deep Sea to the Future! Suruga Bay Exploration for Kids and Youth (ZERI JAPAN/Marine Open Innovation Institute/Numazu National College of Technology/Shizuoka Television)