NAHA, Okinawa — Greenpeace International is supporting Okinawa environmental and anti-base groups’ efforts to stop construction of a Marine air station in waters off northeastern Okinawa.

The organization’s trawler, “Rainbow Warrior,” arrived in Naha on Tuesday in preparation for two weeks of protest activity near the fishing port of Henoko, where a small group of protesters has staged a 300-day sit-in toward disrupting an environmental seabed survey where the airport is planned.

The 555-ton ship’s 17 crewmembers will join the Henoko protest Monday. They first were to visit Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine on Thursday to urge him to press the national government to halt the project.

Inamine has said he reluctantly supports building the airport, which is to replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in urban Ginowan. But he has demanded that U.S. military use of the airport, which also is to be used by civilian aircraft, be limited to 15 years.

“We are here to send message to the world about environmental problems at Henoko and to demand the governments to cancel the project,” Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan campaign manager, said at a Wednesday news conference aboard the Rainbow Warrior.

The ship is to be open to the public Saturday before it sails to Henoko’s waters, where it’s to anchor until March 12. Greenpeace plans to take part in a “parade at sea” with local demonstrators.

Karli Thomas, Greenpeace Japan, said the organization is urging the national government to designate the Henoko area a marine reserve, “not a reserve for Marines.” She said New Zealand, her home, has 18 such reserves in which “fish protected within the core area eventually grow big, with many swimming out of the reserve area and benefiting fisheries.”

“People in Henoko are well aware of the preciousness of the ocean,” she said. “That’s why they have been staging a sit-in. But we cannot expect them to sit there forever. That’s why we are here, to take their message out to the world.”

Air base opponents said they welcomed Greenpeace joining their campaign. To date, Tokyo has not responded to calls for finding an alternative to Henoko and an active group of northern Okinawans support the project. U.S. officials have said they’ll back any alternative to MCAS Futenma on Okinawa that supports Marine air operations.

Steve Shallhorn, Greenpeace Japan executive director, suggested some people support the Henoko project because the national government has pledged to invest in the area if its built. “The community is going to support any project that attracts billions of yen,” he said. “But I want Japanese people to ask themselves, is this a good use of tax money?”

Said Hiroshi Ashitomi, of the Anti-heliport Council, one of the local opponents: “From now on, it will be our common goal to create a marine reserve so that we can hand down the well-preserved, precious nature to our future generations, who will be able to see dugongs leisurely swimming around Henoko’s waters.”

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