2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report

A Socio-Ecological Approach to Restoring River Connectivity and Rewilding Salmon as Keystone Species in the Kushiro River Watershed, Eastern Hokkaido, Japan

Research Project

Project/Area Number	17K00699
Research Institution	Sophia University
Principal Investigator	伊藤毅上智大学, 国際教養学部, 教授 (10646863)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	渡邉剛弘上智大学, 国際教養学部, 准教授 (50439337) 北島義和釧路公立大学, 経済学部, 准教授 (70782952)
Project Period (FY)	2017-04-01 – 2022-03-31
Keywords	Ecology and Society / Salmon Ecology / Social Institutions / Kushiro River
Outline of Annual Research Achievements	This yar was the final year of this research grant. Yet, our research activities including writing and fieldwork were delayed and disrupted by the spread of the global pandemic COVID-19. Due to the travel ban, we focused on building the literature on the environmental history of salmon and people in the Kushiro river basin. Our research suggests that the increased levels of interactions between social-ecological systems after state-led land reclamation provided unlimited access to Kushiro’s natural resources, thereby imposing severe strains on the ecological systems. Until the first half of the nineteenth century, the region was sparsely populated, with Ainu settlements along the navigable waterways of the Kushiro River and coastal trading posts managed by mainland merchants. In this era, the low population density, coupled with pre-industrial technology, constrained the human capacity to restructure the environment. Anthropogenic impact on the ecosystem increased after the Meiji Restoration (1868), when the new government, as part of its development policy to increase human population, began a series of state-sponsored land reclamation efforts to permanently resettle people from the mainland. The strategy aimed at transforming Hokkaido into a major agricultural and fishery base.
Current Status of Research Progress	Current Status of Research Progress 3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed. Reason Until 2019, our research was on track to complete and achieve the original research plan and goal. Because of the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, our research has been delayed. However, part of our research “Protecting Natural Reproduction of Salmon and Restoring Wetlands in Kushiro, Hokkaido: A Prolegomenon” was published on Wetland Research in August 2020. Furthermore, since 2014, we have taught a field-based seminar on environmental studies in Kushiro. Based on this experience of research and teaching, we wrote a peer-reviewed book chapter on teaching social-ecological relations through fieldwork entitled 「上智大学の取り組み：フィールドから学ぶ人間社会と自然環境の相互関係」.
Strategy for Future Research Activity	In the final year, we are concluding our three-year research project. For the most part, our research has progressed as we planned. However, the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 in early 2020 prevented us from conducting fieldwork. Under the extraordinary situation, the research project has been extended for one year. Our research will detail the ways in which human activities to increase salmon stocks shapes the space and time of salmon’s life-making that connects not only forests and seas but also territories and territorial seas divided and controlled by various national and local governments. In the final year 2021-22, we plan to complete the fieldwork in Hokkaido and the Pacific Northwest. Given the uncertainty of the COVID-19 situation, we take precautious measures in planning fieldwork.
Causes of Carryover	Due to the outbreak and spread of the global pandemic, we were unable to conduct research as we had originally planned. The fund will be effectively used to complete the research considering the situation.