February 2, 2021 — As the tenth anniversary of the East Japan earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster approaches, fishery cooperatives in Fukushima Prefecture are making progress toward recovery by reopening damaged port cargo handling and auction buildings and sales outlets – even as new releases of cooling water from the crippled reactor appear imminent.
The 11 March, 2011, disaster resulted in fishing being banned in the prefecture due to radioactivity. Since then, the national government, in cooperation with the prefectural governments and fisheries cooperatives, has monitored radioactive materials in fish and fishery products. In trial fishing, the number of samples in which radioactive materials above the standard limits were detected decreased over time, and in marine species – for four years after June 2015 – there were no samples collected in Fukushima that exceeded the standard. A study performed in 2017 found that Fukushima Daiichi radiation was no longer a danger to seafood-eaters.