Photo/Illutration A fish auction in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Fukushima fishermen still feel their concerns are being ignored after the International Atomic Energy Agency approved the government’s plan to discharge treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The U.N. agency concluded that the release of the water into the ocean would have a negligible effect on the environment and people’s health.

The fishermen may agree with this assessment, but they are more worried that negative publicity and false rumors about the water will hurt sales of their marine products.

“I felt the water discharge was a foregone conclusion, and that our voices were being trampled on,” said Akira Egawa, 76, who heads the Iwaki fisheries cooperative in Fukushima Prefecture. “Will consumers feel assured just because an international agency says, ‘It’s safe?’ This issue is not that simple.”

During his July 4 meeting in Tokyo with Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director general, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said: “I have said that as a leader in the international community with responsibility, I would not approve of releasing treated water if it had a negative effect on the health of the peoples of Japan and the world.”

His administration must now try to convince local fishermen that their livelihoods will not be endangered by the discharge.

The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the stricken nuclear plant, pledged in August 2015 not to discharge water stored at the site without the “understanding” of all concerned parties.

Since then, the government has taken various steps to placate worries of fishermen about negative publicity from the move.

The government officially decided in April 2021 that releasing the treated water into the ocean would be the most effective way of dealing with the huge amount of water being stored at the Fukushima plant site. Then-Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga ordered thorough measures to deal with possible negative publicity from the move.

In December 2021, the government approved a fund of 30 billion yen ($208 million) to temporarily buy up seafood.

The following year, another fund totaling 50 billion yen was set up to help fishermen develop new fishing grounds.

Since 2020, the Japan Fisheries Cooperative has approved resolutions expressing “absolute opposition” to the water discharge plan.

But in the latest resolution released in June, “absolute” was deleted, and the national organization only said it still opposed the plan.

At the same time, the organization positively evaluated the funds set up by the government.

Some high-ranking government officials concluded that the softer wording set the stage for approval of the water discharge plan.

Although government officials have long said they want the water release to begin this summer, other concerns may push back that timing.

A number of local elections will be held from July in the Tohoku region, and this summer vacation period will be the first in four years with no COVID-19 infection prevention measures in place.

That has led to concerns about the effect of the water release on beachgoers along the Pacific coast of Fukushima Prefecture.

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