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Ogasawara NP, Tokyo
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A short-tailed albatross chick fledged from Yomejima in the 2015–16 breeding season—the island’s first confirmed success. When the chick was found, its parents were still unknown.
Recorded black-footed albatross chicks on Yomejima rose from 78 in 2001 to 413 in 2017—more than five times as many after feral goats were removed. Researchers documented the striking recovery.
Local fishers gave Yomejima’s waters a 3-year voluntary rest: the no-fishing zone extended 2 km offshore from 1998 to 2001. A later Tokyo survey found red groupers larger on average and catch per effort higher than at Nishijima.
A 2019 locust outbreak killed the entire medake bamboo stand near Yomejima’s only woodland where Yamaki land snails had been found. Monitoring later recorded the stand gradually recovering.
Yomejima’s goat-removal effort was concentrated: 81 feral goats were removed over 2 years, 2000–2001. Introduced for food, the goats had gone wild, damaging vegetation and seabird nesting habitat.
Yomejima means “bride island”; nearby Nakōdojima is the “matchmaker,” and Mukojima is the “groom.” A historical survey even described the Ogasawara island groups as arranged like a family.
Feral goats were not Yomejima’s only introduced mammal: black rats were also eradicated, by 2022. Conservation monitoring now follows the island’s endemic snails and insects, native plants, and nesting seabirds.
