NARAHA, Fukushima Prefecture--Traditional salmon "combination net fishing" returned to the Kidogawa river here for the first time in five years as fishermen hauled in about 120 of the cold-water fish.
NARAHA, Fukushima Prefecture--Traditional salmon "combination net fishing" returned to the Kidogawa river here for the first time in five years as fishermen hauled in about 120 of the cold-water fish.
With the evacuation order for Naraha lifted in September, members of the local fisheries cooperative association gathered around 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 18 to drive salmon from the upper reaches of the Kidogawa with a net toward another one set up downstream.
It was the first time the fishing operations took place since the nuclear disaster at the nearby Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which was caused by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
Most of Naraha is located within the 20-kilometer-radius evacuation zone surrounding the stricken plant, but the evacuation order was lifted for the entire town on Sept. 5.
According to the association, some of the fish caught were salmon fry that were released into the Kidogawa in early March 2011 before the disaster, which had returned to the river as adults to spawn.
Authorities gave the green light to shipping Kidogawa river salmon after a survey conducted by the Fukushima prefectural government found that levels of radioactive materials detected in the fish were below the central government’s safety standard of 100 becquerels per kilogram.