Photo/Illutration Industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, seated center on the right table, explains the government’s plan to release treated water into the ocean during a meeting in Mito on June 10 with officials of a fisheries cooperative association in Ibaraki Prefecture. (Yushin Adachi)

Fishermen in three prefectures gave industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura an earful when he sought their approval of a government plan to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean.

The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. intend to discharge the water into the Pacific Ocean as early as this summer, but fishermen along the Pacific Coast remain bitterly opposed, fearing it could critically affect their livelihoods.

“I received unflattering comments,” Nishimura told reporters on June 10 after traveling through Fukushima, Miyagi and Ibaraki prefectures. “We intend to have closer communication and continue to offer in-depth explanations.”

It was Nishimura’s first visit to Ibaraki and Miyagi prefectures for discussions on the matter with fishing industry representatives, according to the industry ministry.

“We cannot avoid releasing water into the ocean as part of plans to go ahead with decommissioning of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant,” Nishimura told officials of a fisheries cooperative association in Ibaraki Prefecture during a meeting in Mito.

He said “the government will act as one” and take whatever steps are necessary to preserve the standing of the fishing industry.

Masami Tobita, chairman of the fisheries cooperative association, said: “The government’s planned countermeasures against unfounded rumors fall far short of what we requested. We are dead set against the water release plan.”

In a document handed to the Fukushima prefectural fisheries cooperative association in 2015, the government pledged it “will not dispose of (treated water) without gaining the understanding of those concerned.”

Nishimura said June 10 that fishing industry representatives in the three prefectures told him the government must take sole responsibility if it goes ahead with the release of the treated water.

“We should listen to their opinions and concerns and keep explaining things in detail as many times as is needed,” he said.

The construction of an undersea tunnel and related work for the water release project is expected to be completed soon.

A team of investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency will compile a comprehensive report about the safety of the water release plan as early as this month.

The government will decide on the timing of releasing water based on these developments.

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