Japan’s fishing and restaurant industries have been struggling since the 11 March earthquake and tsunami attacks as supply and demand in the fish market continue to suffer. Some are concerned that a prolonged dearth of a range of seafood items will ensue.
"The fishing environment along the coast must have been badly hurt by the massive inflow of debris after the earthquake and tsunami," said an official at Daiyoshi, a Tsukiji-based intermediary fish wholesaler, Nikkei reports. "There is still no end in sight to the supply shortage, given that fishing boats and seafood processing factories have also been damaged by the disaster."
One of the areas struck by the tsunami is the Sanriku region – Japan’s main producer of bonito, salmon, oysters and wakame seaweed. Products originating from Iwate and Miyagi prefectures make up 80 per cent of the nation's wakame and 30 per cent of its oyster market, but the recent decline in supply from the region has led dealers to buy oysters from Mie Prefecture and bonito from Miyazaki Prefecture and other regions, told a major wholesaler.
"The Sanriku region is home to the world's top three fishing grounds, but it will be a long time before the area can recover," one wholesaler said, reports Mainichi Japan.
Due to ongoing blackouts, families are buying less fresh fish for fear that it will spoil.Inageya Co, the operator of supermarket chains in Tokyo, communicated that sales of fresh fish have plunged while those of dried fish have surged by 30 per cent year-on-year.
Further, the industry is worried about harmful rumors regarding radioactive contamination in seafood due to the nuclear crisis in Fukushima.
A sushi restaurant in Tokyo's Tsukiji district has seen "Chinese tourists almost disappear and sales drop by 30 per cent," said its senior manager.
Already, overseas buyers have cancelled their orders even as the government assured the food’s safety, said Hiromi Isa, trade office director at Japan’s Fisheries Agency, Bloomberg reports.
Japan’s Fisheries Agency said the 11 March devastation damaged more than 6,000 fishing boats and over 100 fishing ports in the Tohoku region, leaving most ruined. Pending official figures, it is presumed that many of the oyster and wakame farms in the Sanriku region have been destroyed.
The fishing ports smashed by the quake and tsunami will be repaired through public works projects, but this could take as long as two to three years.
"The extent of damage is just so great, it is impossible to estimate how long rebuilding will take. We also need to study how many people will be able to continue fishing after their facilities and equipment are restored," a Fisheries Agency official said.
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