Abstract
The aim of this study was to clarify the characteristics of observation opportunities of rare species by the Ecotourism guide workers. The case study was conducted in Southern Kujuku-shima Islands, Sasebo-city, Nagasaki Prefecture. The observation opportunities were confirmed by the number of species, the number of islands, observation frequency from literature surveys (logbook or weblog) which were recorded by the Ecotourism guide workers, which were, in turn, compared with those by the researchers of the research institution. As the results, it was shown that the Ecotourism guide workers and researchers had observed the different species mainly. However they already had observed a few common rare species. And the researchers observed wider range of islands than Ecotourism guide workers. On the other hand, the Ecotourism guide worker had more chances to observe than the researchers in limited area such as the field of the eco-tour. This study suggested that Ecotourism guide workers do in fact have the observation opportunities that help government and researchers for rare species conservation.
