Design and monitoring study of the Wada Biotope in Takahama Town, Fukui Prefecture, Japan

The Wada Biotope in the town of Takahama in Fukui Prefecture, Japan was developed for the purpose of creating various wetlands environments, i.e., a freshwater pond, a brackish pond and paddy fields. As a result of a physical environmental survey after the Biotopeʼs development, salt water moved up to the brackish pond and did not run up to the freshwater pond. As a result of a fish survey after the Biotopeʼs development, freshwater fishes, marine fishes and amphidromous fishes were captured in the brackish pond. Thus, freshwater fishes, marine fishes and amphidromous fishes coexisted in one biotope. Challenges for the future are: (1) establishing ex-ante and ex-post assessment systems, regular monitoring, and adaptive management for the biotope development project, and (2) enabling Oryzias sakaizumii to overwinter in the freshwater pond with the introduction of a year-round water flow from the Katama River to the freshwater pond.