Iki Island
Iki,_Nagasaki.png
Iki Island (壱岐島) an island lying between the island of Kyushu and Tsushima islands in the Tsushima Strait, the eastern channel of the Korea Strait. It is currently part of Nagasaki Prefecture. The city of Iki is the centre of the local government. The island has three ports.
The island hosts a population of 33,202 within the 138.45 km˛ island, measuring 17km from the north-south direction and 14km in the east-west direction. Agriculture is widely practiced by the local inhabitants, and crops including rice and tobacco are planted. There is also an onsen (Japanese hot spring). Sea urchin is a delicacy there, as is the local shochu.
Together with the neighbouring islands of Tsushima, they are collectively known as the Iki–Tsushima Quasi-National Park.
Especially in the town of Katsumoto, the islanders were notorious for the over-fishing of the local species of whales and dolphins between the 1970s and 1980s. In view of the already endangered yellowtails, the local town government banned large-scale, commercial fishing of yellowtails after 1982.
In 1977, the local fishermen invited television companies to film the mass slaughtering of dolphins. In response, the world heavily condemned the fishermen's acts of killing the dolphins.