14 DAY TRIAL // For the first time in more than a year, the Japanese fishing industry is once again ready to provide local markets with seafood coming from the waters nearby the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.
Their choice of species is octopus and marine snails, due to the fact that recent tests indicated that these animals no longer run any risks of poisoning those who eat them.
However, just to make sure, authorities worked together with fishermen and caught said octopi and sea snails as early as Friday, regardless of the fact that these were shipped to local markets only on Monday.
As one can easily guess, this allowed them run radiation tests during the weekend. Huffington Post informs us that crabs will be the next to go on sale, due to the fact that these are now also said to no longer contain traces of radiation which might be dangerous for human beings if ingested.
However, Japanese citizens will have to wait a while longer before they can once again enjoy fish species such as flounder and sea bass, given the fact that these seem to still be contaminated to some extent.
The decision to once again fish in these waters stems from the need to aid local fishermen and their trade.
It is believed that some of the people who bought the octopi and the sea snails that went on sale this Monday only did so in order to show their support for the Japanese fishing industry.
Professor Nobuyuki Yagi from the University of Tokyo explains that “Fishing cannot survive unless people buy the fish. That may seem obvious, but Fukushima is facing up to this.”
As far as prices go, the ex-nuclear seafood presumably sold at only half the price one could have asked for it prior to the Fukushima disaster.
Whether because of this or because people are now more willing to put their fears behind them, the fact is that, by 3 p.m., one supermarket in Soma had already sold out its share of octopi and sea snails.