Fukushima Fishers to Expand Operations near Crippled N-Plant

Fukushima, Feb. 28 (Jiji Press)--The federation of fisheries cooperative associations in Fukushima Prefecture decided Tuesday to expand test operations near the nuclear disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station. Following the decision, the area of the federation's voluntary fishing ban will shrink to a radius of 10 kilometers from the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. <9501> plant from the current 20-kilometer radius in March at the earliest. Welcoming the move, Tetsu Nozaki, head of the federation said, "We'll steadily conduct operations while disseminating information on the safety (of fish caught off the prefecture)." The plan to relax the voluntary restriction, when proposed in January 2016, met with a negative response from some members of the federation. But a consensus was formed following work to remove rubble from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in waters within 20 kilometers of the crippled plant. Surveys by the prefecture's fishery research institute have shown that about 40 pct of fish caught off Fukushima in April-December 2011 contained higher levels of radioactive cesium than the state-set standard of 100 becquerels per kilogram. But the proportion of such fish gradually declined, and none has exceeded the limit since April 2015, according to the surveys. END