The things I know about Okino-tori Shima are from a book by Boudewijn
Büch, "Het ijspaleis", the third in a series called "Eilanden"
("Islands"), Amsterdam, 1983.
When talking of Okino-tori Shima, he refers to an article in the
Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad of April 25, 1988 by a scholar of
Japanese studies, Karel van Wolferen, with the title "Gewapend beton
moet een Japans eilandje boven de zeespiegel houden" ("Reinforced
Concrete Should Keep Japanese Islet Above Sea Level"). According to
this article, no less than 18 ships, loaded with concrete and
workers, set course to Okino-tori Shima to save it from disappearing.
After a typhoon passed by in 1985, the island was threatened by
destruction, thus eliminating Japans claims on fishing grounds and
possible sea mining areas (meant is, of course, the EEZ around the
island). According to Van Wolferen, a circular wall of 50 m in
diameter was built around the island.
Büch goes on to cite the Japanese newspaper The Daily Yomiuri (May
22, 1988): "At high tide, only two peaks of the island project above
the surface of the water. The larger rock, Kitarogan, is about 6
square meters in area and projects 70 cm above the sea at high tide,
and the smaller one, Higashirogan, is about 2 square meters in area."
Büch mentions also that the same thing (reinforcement with concrete)
happened in 1985 to the Icelandic island Kolbeinsey. No pictures of
this one, though.
I will post the two pictures separately. Don't worry about the
copyrights, Büch doesn't seem to either.
The first picture is from page 106 of the book. The text is:
Reproduction of colour photograph in Yomiuri shimbun (evening
edition, May 21, 1988). The saviours of Okino-tori Shima are carrying
out surveys in and above the water.
The second picture is from page 111. The text: Reproduction of a
colour photograph of the salvation of Okino-tori Shima with ships
pouring concrete, in a Japanese newspaper (title not traced) on
August 25, 1988.
The implications of Okino-tori Shima on Japans EEZ can be seen in a
little map, which I already have posted a couple of months ago, with
a (hilarious, acc. to Michael) automatically generated translation of
a Japanese web site on the island. See msg. 1876. The link (+map) is
http://www.vill.ogasawara.tokyo.jp/200kairi.htm
Peter S.
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "Grant Hutchison" <granthutchison@c...>
wrote:
> Peter:
>
> > Parece Vela is a joke (albeit a joke strenghtened by concrete). So
> > much for the habitable principle.
> You obviously know a fair amount about Okino Tori Shima / Parece
> Vela - I've found it difficult to discover anything about the
place.
> What's the significance of the concrete?
>
> Another odd thing about our favourite maritime boundary map
> (http://www.maritimeboundaries.com) is the EEZ indicated around the
> South Sandwich Islands - the southern extension of this looks to be
> well past 60 degrees south, the latitude at which the Antarctic
> Treaty kicks in. If all territorial claims are in abeyance, surely
> the EEZ should cut of that boundary?
>
> Grant