Japan Press Weekly

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2013 April 10 - 16 [GREAT EAST JAPAN DISASTER]

JCP Kami urges gov’t not to approve corporate fishery in disaster-hit area

Japanese Communist Party Diet member Kami Tomoko on April 10 met with Reconstruction and Fisheries agencies officials and demanded that the government not allow private enterprises to establish coastal fisheries operations in the 3.11 disaster-hit prefecture of Miyagi without obtaining consensus from local fishermen.

Miyagi Prefectural Governor Murai Yoshihiro is seeking to establish a “special fishery restoration zone” by arguing that to grant fishing rights to private corporations will facilitate recovery from the disaster

Earlier that day, the prefectural government submitted an application for the national government approval of a “special fishery zone” to the Reconstruction Agency without local fishermen’s approval. It was the first application of this kind.

If the request is allowed, a fishing right will be given to a company made up of 15 oyster farmers in the Momonoura District, Ishinomaki City.

Since the governor first announced his plan to relax the entry regulations for fishery businesses, the Miyagi Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives and local fishermen have expressed their opposition to the plan. In February, 114 Momonoura fishermen issued a joint statement to protest against the special fishery zone scheme.

JCP Miyagi Prefectural Assembly member Yokota Yuji, who came to Tokyo for the meeting, pointed out that the assembly in February adopted a statement calling on the prefectural government to make a special consideration to obtain the consent of people concerned with regard to the special zone plan.

When an Reconstruction Agency official said, “We will make our decision based on the contents of the application,” Kami stressed, “Local fishermen are being left in a state of confusion. The government shouldn’t approve the application in such a situation.”

Related past articles
>’Special zone’ scheme will destroy traditional fishing order based on sustainability [July 7, 2011]
> ‘Special fishery zone’ will further hurt damaged local fishery [June 26-27, 2011]