IWAKI, Fukushima -- Fishermen in Fukushima Prefecture are struggling to pass their skills on to the younger generation because they have been unable to resume regular fishing operations since the disaster at Tokyo Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant in 2011. Currently, trial fishing is conducted only two or three times a week in waters off the prefecture, giving younger fishermen few opportunities to learn new skills.
In the small hours of Wednesday, Fumio Suzuki and his son Fumiaki of Iwaki went fishing for the first time in a week. Fumiaki, 27, began working aboard his father's boat after graduating from high school, but the nuclear accident occurred just one year later.
Suzuki's boat set off at 2 a.m. and headed for a point about 15 kilometers off the coast. Fumio, 53, skillfully maneuvered his vessel while pulling up fishing nets, paying careful attention to obstacles on the seabed.
Looking at his father, who has spent 35 years on the sea, Fumiaki said, "How long will it take before I can do that?"
The boat returned to the port at 8 a.m. after reeling in nets just once.
"Until the disaster happened, I was on the boat every day learning how to fish," Fumiaki recalled. "But now I sometimes have trouble remembering all the steps that I once had down pat."
Fumio is concerned about his son, saying: "I want to go fishing more to train him up. I wonder if he'll ever be ready to strike out on his own."
Since the nuclear accident, local fisheries cooperatives have been holding workshops on skills such as how to operate boats and maintain gear. In fiscal 2017, 486 participants attended a total of 56 workshops.
Katsuya Kikuchi of Soma, a city in the prefecture's northern coastal area, often went on fishing trips of several days before the nuclear accident. However, the 31-year-old fisherman now ventures out to sea three times a week at best. He hopes to resume normal fishing activities soon. "Younger fishermen don't yet understand how hard this job is," he said. "I get out of shape, but we have to lead others."
15% of pre-quake levels
Following the nuclear accident, fishermen voluntarily refrained from fishing in waters off Fukushima Prefecture. Today, trial fishing activities are held off the coast, except for in waters within a 10-kilometer radius of the nuclear plant.
The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations conducts checks on radioactive substances for all kinds of fish. The organization sets its own safety standard for radiation levels at 50 becquerel or lower per kilogram, stricter than the national standard of 100 becquerel or lower per kilogram.
In 2018, 4,004 tons of fish worth nearly 2.26 billion yen were caught off the prefecture. The figures were just 15.5 percent and 24.5 percent of their pre-disaster amounts. The decrease is result of fewer sales channels for fishermen's products due to harmful misconceptions.
To defuse the situation, the organization began last year setting up special areas for seafood from the prefecture at a major supermarket's outlets in the Tokyo metropolitan area and elsewhere. "We want people to understand the situation including the safety [of our fish]," said federation Chairman Tetsu Nozaki.
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