Japan: Fukushima seafood back to the markets after the nuclear disaster

For the first time since the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, after the strong earthquake that struck Japan in March 2011, the seafood caught in waters bordering the province of northeastern returned on Monday to be sold in markets. Sales were 1.25 tonnes of seafood caught in last Friday about 50 miles from the coast and more than 150 feet deep, said a spokesman for the Federation of Fishery Cooperatives Fukushima. For now, the return of the seafood stalls is still in testing. On Wednesday, will again be sold in the markets of the province to assess whether or not consumers are receptive to the product, added the spokesman. Before, the seafood was inspected to rule out contamination by radioactive substances from nuclear power Fukushima Daiichi, the epicenter of the nuclear accident caused by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 last year. Markets in cities such as Sum, Koriyama and Iwaki arrived two species of octopus and a type of marine snail, which were boiled prior to marketing. Since April 2011 the Federation of Fishery Cooperatives Fukushima is to analyze 163 species of marine coastal zone the province, and three species put up for sale today are among those that had zero or very low levels of contamination. The fisheries sector, such as agriculture and livestock has been greatly affected by the accident at the nuclear plant. Revenues from the sale of fish in 2011 fell to about 16 million euros, against 109 million euros a year earlier, according to data compiled by Kyodo.