A beach in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture, reopened last week for shellfish gathering, nearly two weeks after it was forced to close because of an oil leak that followed a collision between two cargo ships just outside Tokyo Bay.
However, damage from the oil leak has spread, as nori seaweed farms in the city were hit hard and fishermen stopped harvesting hijiki seaweed in Kanagawa Prefecture across the bay.
The beach opened for clamming season on March 15, but closed on March 30 after heavy oil from one of the ships washed ashore in southern parts of the prefecture. The ships collided on March 18 and one of them sank.
However, the beach operator felt the oil would not reach the shore and reopened it Saturday.
I’m so pleased because I thought it would take some time before I could come to dig up clams, said Shingo Sato, a 34-year-old company employee of Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, who visited the beach with his family. We’ll make five or six more visits here.
From early Saturday morning, the beach was crowded with pleasure-seekers who hunted for clams.
The seashore used to attract 170,000 shellfish hunters a year before the Great East Japan Earthquake, but the number of visitors has since dipped to around 50,000 to 100,000.
I’m relieved that lots of people decided to come to the beach, said Yoshiyuki Morita, 53, vice head of the Futtsu fishermen’s cooperative that operates the clam gathering beach. We’ve taken countermeasures, such as putting up oil fences offshore. I want people to come and enjoy themselves.
However, the damage done to fishing and seaweed farming is much more serious.
About 100 members of the Shin-Futtsu fishermen’s cooperative, also in Futtsu, took turns collecting oil-smeared driftwood, shells and other items on the shore until Friday. About 1,500 bulky bags of contaminated nori seaweed, or about 1,500 tons, were lined up nearby to be discarded.
The usual seaweed harvesting season is from October to April, generating ¥2 billion in sales. But leaked oil reached seaweed farms on March 26, prompting fishermen to end harvesting for the season, which was originally scheduled to close on April 20.
It’s regrettable, as we had expected a good harvest for April due to low temperatures so far this year, said Satoshi Koizumi, 59, head of the Shin-Futtsu fishermen’s cooperative. Unless the oil leak is stopped soon, it will affect the next harvesting season.
All five fishermen’s cooperatives in the city gave up nori harvesting for this season.
The Amaha fishermen’s cooperative has reported damage to hijiki and kajime seaweed, whose prime season is spring. The cooperative resumed fishing for Japanese sea bass and flatfish, but 52-year-old cooperative head Hideki Isogai said he was concerned about possible damage from harmful talk about fish caught in the area.
According to the Chiba prefectural government, leaked heavy oil has been seen in pools over a 10-kilometer stretch offshore from Futtsu to Tateyama, further south. Fourteen fishermen’s cooperatives have been affected by the oil spillage, as well as Kanagawa Prefecture across the bay.
According to the prefectural government’s fisheries section, after leaked oil reached Miura’s Matsuwa district on March 20, nine fishermen’s cooperatives in five municipalities suspended hijiki harvesting. Two cooperatives in Miura suspended set net fishing.
I hope the oil leak will not affect tengusa agar harvesting due to start around June, an employee of the Jogashima fishermen’s cooperative said.
The third Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Yokohama said heavy oil is still leaking from the sunken ship and divers began work Saturday morning to stop the leakage.
The Yomiuri Shimbun