The Fisheries Agency will start a project this fiscal year to restore the ailing coral reef around Japan's southernmost island of Okinotori that many experts fear will be in for further damage due to global warming.

The coral reef forms a natural breakwater protecting the island from erosion, as well as providing habitats for fish and other sea creatures. Due to the ailing coral reef, erosion of the island has already started. The area of the island has been reduced to two sets of islets both several meters wide and long during high tide.

To slow the erosion, Japan has installed wave-dissipating blocks and concrete embankments around the isle in an atoll.