Twenty-six fishing boats returned to Ukedo port in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, on Saturday after a six-year evacuation following the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Fishermen who belonged to a local fisheries cooperative evacuated because of the damage the fishing port sustained in the tsunami that followed the earthquake, as well as the turmoil caused by the nuclear accident.
The fishermen have returned to their home port now that work to restore damaged facilities has mostly been completed. They will begin fishing on a trial basis, using Ukedo fishing port as their base.
The number of fishing boats to be based at the port is drastically less than the more than 80 that once belonged to it.
But the fishermen were enthusiastic. We would like to make today the starting point for making this port as vital as before, one of them said.
Tomio Sato, 74, is one of the fishermen who returned to the port aboard his fishing boat. He had been based at Manogawa fishing port.
He was forced to leave his home due to the accident at the nuclear power plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. His wife passed away while the couple lived as evacuees.
Sato expressed deep gratitude about returning to the port. I have finally reached this point, he said.
All the residents of Namie were ordered to evacuate at the start of the nuclear crisis. Evacuation orders are scheduled to be lifted in some areas of the town, including coastal locations, in late March.
Resuming operations at Ukedo fishing port is expected to accelerate the town’s post-disaster reconstruction.
At the port, roads and facilities to handle unloaded fish still have not been prepared, while concerns about damaging rumors also persist.
But Sato was looking ahead. I believe things will be restored sometime in the future, he said.
The Yomiuri Shimbun