From CNN: "Radiation from the damaged nuclear plant leaked into the sea, prompting authorities to suspend fishing operations off the coast of three prefectures that had previously provided Japan with half of its catch.
That ban lasted over a year, and even after it was lifted, Fukushima-based fishermen like Shiga were for years mostly limited to collecting samples for radioactivity tests on behalf of the state-owned electricity firm Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, rather than taking their catches to market.
Ocean currents have since dispersed the contaminated water enough that radioactive cesium is nearly undetectable in fish from Fukushima prefecture. Japan lifted its last remaining restrictions on fish from the area in 2021, and most countries have eased import restrictions."
TEPCO's initial decision to begin releasing treated coolant water into the Pacific engendered concerns for several Japanese civillians on the East Coast. Not only for health, but out of concern for the additional damage it would cause to a local economy that already spent the last decade rebuilding its reputation and prosperity; again, another key chasm between Japanese civilians and the state with loaded historical implications given the Minamata disease fallout of the 1960s in Japan's coastal fishery communities.