Fukushima residents are cautious after the wrecked nuclear plant began releasing treated wastewater, November 3, 2023
IWAKI, Japan (AP) — Fish auction prices at a port south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were mixed amid uncertainty over how seafood consumers will respond to the release of treated and diluted radioactive wastewater into the ocean.
The plant, which was damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, began sending the treated water into the Pacific on Thursday despite protests at home and in nearby countries that are adding political and diplomatic pressures to the economic worries.
Hideaki Igari, a middleman at the Numanouchi fishing port, said the price of larger flounder, Fukushima’s signature fish known as Joban-mono, was more than 10% lower at the Friday morning auction, the first since the water release began. Prices of some average-size flounder rose, but presumably due to a limited catch, says Igari. Others fell.
It was a relatively calm market reaction to the water release. But, Igari said, “we still have to see how it goes next week.”
<p>Despite Japan's diplomatic sharp rebuke to China's import ban, this source highlights yet again the disparity between civilian and state reactions — residents and businesses on Japan's East Coast were wary of the health and economic implications of TEPCO's move despite the Japanese government's re-assurance. Such concern is also justifiable from a historical perspective, given the Minamata disease crisis from contaminated fish in the 1960s; Japanese civilians likely feared a repeat of history, while the Chinese government sought to avenge history. </p>