October 9, 2014 — Fish catches are gradually recovering off Fukushima Prefecture, three and a half years after the devastating nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Despite the impact of contaminated water from the accident, local fishermen are now allowed to catch a wider variety of fish and are striving to supply their fishery products to large consumer markets.
In Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, local fishery operators ceased operations off the coast on March 15, 2011, four days after the nuclear accident triggered by a huge earthquake and tsunami, due to concerns over the impact of radioactive cesium leaking from the crippled nuclear power plant. But starting in mid-2012, they slowly resumed fishing operations on a trial basis.
Before the accident, they used to catch about 200 types of fish and shellfish there. As of the end of September this year, they began to catch 51 different kinds on an experimental basis.
Read the full story at Nikkei Asian Review