The State of Fisheries and Marine Species in Fukushima: Six Years After the 2011 Disaster

Abstract

The recovery of Fukushima fisheries remains sluggish 6 years after the disaster. The Fukushima Fisheries Cooperative Association (FCA) decided to allow limited fishing in June 2012 (known as the trial operation). Total landing value of fish and fishery products from the trial operation has been gradually increasing due to the increased number of catchable target species and increased fishing areas. But the landing value in 2016 was only 5% of the value recorded in the pre-disaster years. Safety of the products has been demonstrated by various surveys conducted by the government authorities and independent researchers. Several studies indicated that the population of key fish species in Fukushima waters showed a tangible increase after the 2011 disaster reflecting low fishing pressures in this period. Weak consumer confidence would have contributed to the extremely slow recovery of Fukushima fisheries. In addition to the consumers' attitudes, fish distributors' risk-averse attitudes could have brought additional adverse effects against the recovery of Fukushima fisheries. This situation could continue for several more years. Continued support for fishers in Fukushima is needed for the foreseeable future to sustain the livelihood of small fishing households as well as maintain societies, traditional knowledge, and other human or social capital in the region.

Inherent resilience, major marine environmental change and revitalisation of coastal communities in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

“…In the Soma-Futaba fisheries area, all ports have now re-opened, and the fish market at Ukedo Fishing Port in Namie to the south of Soma resumed operations in April 2020 (Soma-Futaba Fisheries Cooperative, 2020b). However, trial operations continue to operate at less than one-fifth of pre-disaster levels (Soma-Futaba Fisheries Cooperative Association, 2018;Yagi, 2019).…”

Decoupling Seascapes

“…At the species scale, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011 and subsequent and further release of contaminated water into the Pacifi c Ocean may have a diff erent implication from the perspectives of commercially targeted fi sh and shellfi sh species. While local fi shers' fi shing activities continue to be restricted, the reduced fi shing pressures have led to the increase in some species' biomass (see Yagi 2019). Homo sapiens sapiens is just one of the many species co-constituting seascapes, and understanding the history, present, and future of oceanic environments requires careful examinations of multispecies interactions and of anthropocentric explanation of local and global maritime histories and current settings.…”

The development of a rapid monitoring method for radiocesium in seawater in the Fukushima region

“…Since the catastrophic accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) occurred in March 2011, long-term radiation contamination with the leakage of a large amount of radioactive cesium (137-Cs) spread over a wide area of land and sea centred on Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, resulting in great contamination of seawater, marine sediment, and seafood. 1–3 To effectively protect the environment from such nuclides without them leaching out, they were retarded by sorbents, and as a result, the possibility of 137-Cs contamination was greatly reduced. For the containment of 137-Cs, much effort has been put into improving the interaction between nuclides and sorbent materials, including a study of Cs sorption into Prussian blue (PB) and its analogues (PBAs), 4–11 zeolites, 12–14 crown calixarenes, 15,16 silicotitanate, 17,18 organic composite adsorbents, 19,20 and ammonium phosphomolybdate (AMP).…”