20 JUNE 2013 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Two Years After: Post-Tsunami Recovery of Fisheries and Aquaculture in Northeastern Japan Michelle L. Walsh and Katsuma Hanafusa It was about a quarter to three in the afternoon of 11 March 2011. I was analyzing videos of fish behavior in the small studio apartment I called home for the better part of two years in Maizuru, Kyoto, Japan. As a graduate research fellow at Kyoto University, I worked out of the Maizuru Fisheries Research Station, located an hour and a half by train north of Kyoto City, on the Japan Sea. I started feeling nauseous. I had a lot to accomplish and only three months left in Japan to do it; there was no time for sickness. My agitation passed quickly when I realized my window blinds were swaying side to side — for a number of minutes. This was the first and only earthquake I experienced while living in Japan. Maizuru was over 700 km away from the epicenter (Figure 1). The Great East Japan Earthquake measured 9.0 on the Richter scale. It triggered a tsunami over 22 m high that struck the northeastern Japan coast. Over a million buildings were damaged (NPA 2013; Figure 2). Over 300,000 people were evacuated. Over 18,000 were dead or missing. It was the most powerful earthquake ever to have hit Japan. Aid to and from the Fishing Industry People in the fishing industry nationwide made prompt efforts to support disaster-affected areas in response to the unprecedented scale of damage that occurred. The JF group, a nationwide group of fisheries cooperatives along Japanese coastal areas, transported emergency relief supplies using emergency trucks named “Todoke! Zenkoku Ryōshi No Omoi Gō” (Delivering the Sympathy of Fishers Nationwide; Figure 3a). In response to a request by the mayor of Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture, the National Federation of Fishery Processor’s Co-operative Association transported processed fish products, such as canned and dried goods, to affected areas. All Japan Seamen’s Union chartered a medium-size squid-jigging vessel and delivered supplies (Figure 3b). The cetacean research vessel “Nisshinmaru” carried large amounts of food, daily commodities and fuel oil. At the National Fisheries University in Yamaguchi prefecture, students delivered supplies, such as sneakers and bicycles, and offered baths and meals onboard the training ship “Kōyōmaru” (Figure 3c). The Japanese Fisheries Agency’s fishery patrol/research vessels engaged in transporting relief supplies, both independently and in cooperation with private fishing vessels and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (Figure 3d). In Onagawa, Fukushima Prefecture, the Salvation Army worked with several hard-hit fishing communities and supported a local fisherman’s union to replace lost boats and equipment so fishers would not miss the fishing season. In addition, the Salvation Army worked with city officials, the Chamber of Commerce, and Trident Seafoods to build a temporary shopping center so business owners could return to work and locals could fulfill their basic needs (Swarts 2013). Impacts The earthquake and subsequent tsunami inflicted huge impacts on ocean ecosystems in the Tohoku region (Wada 2012). Around the earthquake epicenter, the seafloor uplifted and subsided. Coastal topography was altered drastically and large expanses of tidal flats were lost. Seaweed beds were uprooted and a large number of benthic organisms, such as sea urchins, were swept away by the tsunami. However, in offshore waters, there have been no large differences in fish migration and distribution patterns before and after the disaster. Seaweed beds and benthic fauna have recovered rapidly; in fact, seaweeds on several rock reefs grew back even thicker than before the earthquake (Hirakawa et al. 2012). Although offshore ecosystems have been fairly resilient, the loss of tidal flats and coastline will be difficult to restore naturally. Although over 20 prefectures were severely impacted, most damage to Japanese fisheries occurred in seven prefectures from Hokkaido to Chiba (Figure 1), with the most extensive destruction seen in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures. Before the tsunami, these seven prefectures generated over half the fishery production and over 1/3 of the aquaculture production in Japan (JFA 2012; Table 1). All the coho salmon (CONTINUED ON PAGE 22) FIGURE 1. Japanese prefectures most severely affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11, 2011: (1) Hokkaido, (2) Aomori, (3) Iwate, (4) Miyagi, (5) Fukushima (6) Ibaraki (7) Chiba; ⊗ = epicenter; * = Maizuru, Kyoto.
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