The government of Japan on Monday increased the size of an aid package for the fishing sector after China banned its seafood in the wake of the release of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
The announcement came as more than 100 fishermen and locals living near Fukushima Prefecture were to file a lawsuit this week seeking to stop the discharge.
The ¥20.7 billion ($141 million) in additional funding announced by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida comes on top of an existing ¥80 billion aimed at minimizing reputational damage to the industry and keeping businesses afloat.
The beefed-up aid now totaling ¥100.7 billion is a reflection of the government’s “determination to protect” a sector already scarred by the 2011 nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, Kishida said.
Twelve years after one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents, Japan on Aug. 24 began releasing treated cooling water from the facility into the Pacific Ocean, insisting it was safe.
Many Japanese fishermen have been against the release, fearing that it will undo years of efforts to improve the industry’s image in the wake of the 2011 catastrophe.
The more than 100 plaintiffs, including fishermen in Fukushima and neighboring prefectures, will file the lawsuit in the Fukushima District Court on Friday, said Sugie Tanji, who is a member of the group’s secretariat.
“The government failed to keep to its promise of gaining agreement from fishermen before taking such a decision to release,” she said.
“This is a wrong policy as it ignores strong opposition from not only the Fukushima fishermen’s cooperative but also from cooperatives across the country,” the group said in a statement.
“The release to the ocean can never be tolerated as it brings about further suffering to victims of the nuclear accident,” it added.
The release has generated a fierce backlash from China, including a blanket ban of Japanese seafood imports.
Japanese government offices and business have also been bombarded with thousands of nuisance calls from Chinese phone numbers.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government alone received 34,300 calls from Aug. 24 to Thursday, it said.
Japanese government officials have made efforts to reassure the public that fish and other produce from Fukushima are safe to eat.
Last week, Kishida and the U.S. envoy to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, among others, ate Fukushima fish in front of TV cameras.
Before the water release, China was Japan’s biggest export destination for seafood, and Beijing’s ban has people in the sector worried.
Tokyo wholesaler Yoshinobu Yoshihashi’s business has seen shipments of items including oysters, sea urchins and splendid alfonsino to some Asian neighbors “more than halve.”
“We’re having it quite rough,” Yoshihashi said at the huge Toyosu fish market in Tokyo on Saturday.
“Especially in places like Hong Kong and Macau, the damage is quite acute. We’re hearing from our clients there that their customers aren’t coming in any more, and that they are shunning Japanese fish,” he said.
The Japanese government “should have done more to communicate globally the safety of the water before releasing it. There are some people even within Japan who say they’re scared,” he said.
“I have always been and still am proud of Japanese fish. Ours is the best.”