xxii
We are also very pleased to very sincerely address our gratitude to our
partners and hosts, the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur (PACA) Regional
Council, the City of Marseille, the Sasakawa Franco-Japanese Foundation,
the City of Boulogne-sur-Mer, the Nord-Pas-de Calais Regional Council, the
University of Aix-Marseille, the Urban Community of Boulogne-sur-mer, the
Urban Community of Marseille Provence Métropole, the Chamber of
Commerce and Industry of Boulogne-sur-mer for its generous material contributions, the National Center of Scientifi c Research (CNRS), the Pytheas
Institute, the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology, the wonderful aquarium
Nausicaa in Boulogne-sur-mer, the two Poles of Competitiveness of Toulon
(Mer P.A.C.A.) and in Boulogne-sur-mer (Aquimer), the Oceanographic
Institute of Paris and the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters of Marseille.
We will not forget the hard work of the scientifi c committees and organization as well as executive offi ces in each country and the dedication of the
host teams respectively in Boulogne-sur-Mer and Marseille.
We are glad also to thank the design offi ce C’Graph in Marseille for their
excellent work.
Through carefully selected topics (macro wastes, radioactive substances in
food webs after Fukushima, ecological consequences of the Tohoku tsunami
on ecosystems, effects of dredging at sea, pollutants in food webs, biological
indicators, tropical environments, sato-umi and prud’homies, services to human
communities), our Societies’ main target was to look at the management of
natural resources by mankind, its trajectories and adaptations, in comparing
Japan’s and France’s respective approaches at a critical period where environmental problems are increasing at a pace and a scale never seen before.
“Our house is burning while we are looking elsewhere” (“Notre maison
brûle et nous regardons ailleurs”), such was the warning of the then President
of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac, at the opening of the speech he made
before the plenary of the Fourth Earth Summit, on September 2, 2002, in
Johannesburg, South Africa.
What shall we do, we scientists, to transfer appropriate hence useful information concerning the preservation and sustainable exploitation of coastal
and marine resources?
It is diffi cult to convince decision makers to protect biodiversity where
resources were once plentiful and therefore considered as limitless for the
good of economy and employment. It is also almost impossible to convince a
poacher to stop hunting rare animals when their sale is his only subsistence.
Protection must not be opposed to development but should be considered
together.
We are beginning to uncover the benefi ts that mankind withdraws from the
exploitation of natural resources, services rendered by nature that no longer
can be considered as free in regard to the growing damages infl icted by our
activities on the environment. With this 15th French-Japanese Symposium on
Oceanography, we intended to show that the functioning of natural systems
were often disrupted, either by natural processes including hazards or by Man
himself, while such disturbances can be to a certain extent naturally or artifi -
cially buffered thanks to the socio-ecosystem resilience, more particularly
Preface
We are also very pleased to very sincerely address our gratitude to our
partners and hosts, the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur (PACA) Regional
Council, the City of Marseille, the Sasakawa Franco-Japanese Foundation,
the City of Boulogne-sur-Mer, the Nord-Pas-de Calais Regional Council, the
University of Aix-Marseille, the Urban Community of Boulogne-sur-mer, the
Urban Community of Marseille Provence Métropole, the Chamber of
Commerce and Industry of Boulogne-sur-mer for its generous material contributions, the National Center of Scientifi c Research (CNRS), the Pytheas
Institute, the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology, the wonderful aquarium
Nausicaa in Boulogne-sur-mer, the two Poles of Competitiveness of Toulon
(Mer P.A.C.A.) and in Boulogne-sur-mer (Aquimer), the Oceanographic
Institute of Paris and the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters of Marseille.
We will not forget the hard work of the scientifi c committees and organization as well as executive offi ces in each country and the dedication of the
host teams respectively in Boulogne-sur-Mer and Marseille.
We are glad also to thank the design offi ce C’Graph in Marseille for their
excellent work.
Through carefully selected topics (macro wastes, radioactive substances in
food webs after Fukushima, ecological consequences of the Tohoku tsunami
on ecosystems, effects of dredging at sea, pollutants in food webs, biological
indicators, tropical environments, sato-umi and prud’homies, services to human
communities), our Societies’ main target was to look at the management of
natural resources by mankind, its trajectories and adaptations, in comparing
Japan’s and France’s respective approaches at a critical period where environmental problems are increasing at a pace and a scale never seen before.
“Our house is burning while we are looking elsewhere” (“Notre maison
brûle et nous regardons ailleurs”), such was the warning of the then President
of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac, at the opening of the speech he made
before the plenary of the Fourth Earth Summit, on September 2, 2002, in
Johannesburg, South Africa.
What shall we do, we scientists, to transfer appropriate hence useful information concerning the preservation and sustainable exploitation of coastal
and marine resources?
It is diffi cult to convince decision makers to protect biodiversity where
resources were once plentiful and therefore considered as limitless for the
good of economy and employment. It is also almost impossible to convince a
poacher to stop hunting rare animals when their sale is his only subsistence.
Protection must not be opposed to development but should be considered
together.
We are beginning to uncover the benefi ts that mankind withdraws from the
exploitation of natural resources, services rendered by nature that no longer
can be considered as free in regard to the growing damages infl icted by our
activities on the environment. With this 15th French-Japanese Symposium on
Oceanography, we intended to show that the functioning of natural systems
were often disrupted, either by natural processes including hazards or by Man
himself, while such disturbances can be to a certain extent naturally or artifi -
cially buffered thanks to the socio-ecosystem resilience, more particularly
Preface