Marine Ecosystems Research Department - jamstec japan agency ...

Japan Marine Science and Technology Center
Marine Ecosystems Research Department
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clean water samples.
For the survey around deep seawater intake facilities,
in November we carried out a survey in
Toyama Bay to determine the vertical distribution of
water temperature, salinity and nutrients, and examine
methods of determining turbidity near the seafloor. We
brought in a CTD system fitted with a turbidimeter and
altimeter that measures the distance from the sensor to
the seafloor, and this enabled us to measure turbidity
(attenuation coefficient) down to just above the
seafloor. From these measurements, similar to last fiscal
year, we confirmed that turbidity increases in the
layers above the seafloor boundary layer directly above
the seafloor. This is reflected in the properties of seawater
pumped up by the intake facilities, and suggested
the need for filtering depending on the field in which
the deep seawater is to be used.
Study on the functional use of deep seawater for
applications in industry
Period : FY-FY
Kikkoman Corporation, Sunstar Inc., Suntory Ltd.,
Nissui Ltd.
Nitrate (from the pipes of the Fisheries Experimental Station low temperature cultivation tank)
Change in the temperature of deep
seawater in the water intake tank
Fig.22 Results of continuous measurement of nitrate.
While it has been confirmed that the use of deep
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NitrateµM
seawater facilitates fermentation (yeast etc.), and
improves metabolic activity (mineral functionality),
and the taste and coloring of food, little is known
about the causal relationship in this. In this cooperative
research, we aim to draw out the functions of deep
seawater in a range of fields and look into their connection
with the components of deep seawater to clarify
the factors that give rise to those functions.
Through this, we seek to apply the fundamental
knowledge gained about deep seawater to facilitate its
application in industry.
This fiscal year, the second of this study, we collected
samples of deep seawater from sea areas around
Japan, and gathered information and conducted tests
regarding the use of deep seawater in fermentation,
oral hygiene, food, and marine produce propagation
and processing. These are described below.
We collected deep seawater at deep seawater intake
facilities (Toyama, Shizuoka, Kochi and Okinawa prefectures,
and Kumaishi in Hokkaido), and examined
these samples for major elements, trace elements, and
microorganisms. We undertook the following tests on
the samples.
On the use of deep seawater in fermentation, we
carried out cultivation tests on yeast used in producing
fermented seasoning, and fermentation tests. While
the results suggested that deep seawater facilitates
yeast propagation, the fermentation tests showed that
adding deep seawater had no effect.
As for oral hygiene, we examined the effect deep
seawater has on oral hygiene and cleanliness when
used with drugs that have already proven to be effective
in killing bacteria. We found that the therapeutic
effect of the drugs declined when combined with deep
seawater, but at the same time, it had the effect of
reducing the strong taste of the drugs.
We also examined the effectiveness of deep seawater
on food. The primary benefit is safety (contains very
few artificial pollutants), followed by its functionality.
The knowledge gained here was applied in the commercialization
of drinking water made from deep seawater
(product was launched on February , ).
We could not conduct tests on using deep seawater
in rearing fish because we were unable to collect eggs
from the aquaculture fish. Regarding food processing,
we trial produced salted salmon roe using salt prepared
from deep seawater, and examined the effect it has on
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