The is a body of salt water surrounded by

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

Saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

, and

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture t ...

s, all of which lie on the island of

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is the largest bay in Kyūshū. Its deepest point is only about 50 meters (165 ft) deep, and extreme tides exceed , covering roughly . Isahaya Bay is a branch of the Ariake Sea. Across the Amakusa Islands lies the Yatsushiro Sea. Many harbors are located on the coast of the Ariake Sea. Among them are Misumi (in the city of Uki, Kumamoto Prefecture), Shimabara ( Shimabara, Nagasaki), Taira ( Unzen, Nagasaki), Nagasu ( Nagasu, Kumamoto), Kumamoto ( Kumamoto, Kumamoto), Miike ( Omuta, Fukuoka), Kuchinotsu ( Minamishimabara, Nagasaki), and Oniike ( Amakusa, Kumamoto). Five

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

routes cross the Ariake Sea. Various species of fauna, including mudskippers, pen shells (''Atrina pectinata''), and fiddler crabs, live in the Ariake Sea. In autumn, the '' Suaeda''

halophyte A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs, and seashores. ...

''shichimenso'' ('' Suaeda japonica'') grows along the shore. The Ariake Sea has an extensive network of tidal flats, which are replenished with

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...

carried from Mount Aso and Mount Kujū to the sea by the Chikugo River. In addition to being used for fishing, every year around the end of May, the flats at Kashima serve as the venue for the Gatalympics, a novelty sports event. Mount Unzen overlooks the Ariake Sea; the Arie River, which has its source on the volcano, flows into the Ariake Sea. The Ariake Sea is used for

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

, with '' nori'' being a major product. Recent years have brought increasing pollution, with resultant red tides. There is ongoing land reclamation, as evidenced by satellite imagery, despite government attempts to dissuade farmers from carrying out the activity.

References

External links

有明海総合研究プロジェクト
"Ariake Sea General Research Project" (Saga University, in Japanese)
有明海等環境情報・研究ネットワーク
"Environmental Information on Ariake Etc.: Research Network" (Japan Fisheries Resource Conservation Association, in Japanese) {{Coord, 32, 54, 25, N, 130, 22, 20, E, region:JP_type:waterbody_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Bays of Kyushu Bays of the Pacific Ocean Kyushu region Landforms of Fukuoka Prefecture Landforms of Kumamoto Prefecture Landforms of Nagasaki Prefecture Landforms of Saga Prefecture Ōmuta, Fukuoka

See also

References

External links