Thailand gets first fish exported from Fukushima since 3/11

FUKUSHIMA – A shipment of Fukushima fish landed in Thailand this week, marking the prefecture’s first such exports since the March 2011 nuclear crisis.

“We’re delighted to be able to sell fish worldwide from our prefecture,” said Kanji Tachiya, head of a fisheries cooperative association in Soma. “We’ll ship safe fish.”

Fukushima is working to support its fisheries products to dispel lingering concerns about radioactive contamination from the triple core meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant run by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.

On Wednesday, a 110-kg shipment of fresh flatfish was sent to Thailand from a port in Soma. The fish will be served at 12 Japanese restaurants in Bangkok on Friday. The Thai shipments will become regular as officials look to add more export channels.

According to the prefecture, sampling has turned up no cesium in its seafood exceeding Japan safety standards since April 2015.

After the nuclear crisis, the Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations refrained from all fishing off the coast. The federation resumed on a trial basis in 2012. In March last year, it halved the voluntary suspension area to a 10-km radius from the plant instead of 20 km.

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