KESENNUMA, Miyagi Prefecture--A longline tuna fishing boat returned to the sea on May 23, almost two-and-a-half months after it was swept ashore by the March 11 tsunami.
KESENNUMA, Miyagi Prefecture--A longline tuna fishing boat returned to the sea on May 23, almost two-and-a-half months after it was swept ashore by the March 11 tsunami.
The 60-meter No. 3 Myojin Maru was washed ashore onto a road in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, by the tsunami.
On May 23, the Fuji, a crane ship owned and operated by Osaka's Fukada Salvage & Marine Works Co., lifted the 379-ton fishing boat and moved it about 30 meters back into the water.
The operation began by first opening holes in four locations on the road where the Myojin Maru rested and passing chains through the holes. The move back to the sea took about two hours.
According to Noriyuki Suzuki, president of Suzuko Gyogyo Co., the owner of the Myojin Maru, the boat had been anchored at the Kesennuma port preparing to leave for the Indian Ocean on April 5 when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. Suzuko Gyogyo is based in Onagawa, also in Miyagi Prefecture, south of Kesennuma.
"We want to continue with our fishing operations by repairing the boat as soon as possible," Suzuki said.