A citizens' group will establish a nonprofit organization to turn an entire island in Kochi Prefecture into a natural museum, group members said Thursday.

The group said it has applied with the prefectural government to set up the NPO, in part to facilitate marine research in the vicinity of Kashiwa Island.

The group's leader, Masaru Kanda, 35, is a part-time teacher specializing in the biology of fish at Kochi University.

The island has both temperate and tropical characteristics and is home to about 1,000 kinds of fish in one of Japan's largest clusters of stony corals.

The group said it also intends to promote environmental education and tourism on the island. The tiny island off the southwestern tip of Shikoku, with a population of about 540, draws about 10,000 divers from across Japan annually.

Since its establishment in 1998, the group has hosted more than 100 events to introduce the island to elementary school, junior high and high school students from elsewhere, inviting them for snorkeling around the island, group members said.

It has conducted research on corals and mediated problems between divers and fishermen, they added.

The group has about 400 members nationwide, some of whom are island residents.