- Distinctive efforts were introduced in affected areas to cultivate sales channels through collaborative operations or cooperation between production areas or between industries.
(i) Efforts toward resumption of the fishing industry- Increasing efficiency of small-scale set net fishery through collaborative operations (Mr. Yukio Ono from the Miyako Branch of JF Miyagi)
(ii) Efforts toward recovery and expansion of sale channels- Expanding sales channels through ties with agricultural cooperatives (JF Hirota in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture)- Making new developments for the fishery-processing industry (Domannaka Otsuchi Cooperative in Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture)
(iii) Efforts toward reconstruction of port towns- Expanding the fishing port area and developing a center for fishery-processing facilities (Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture)
(4) Continuous support that backs up reconstruction of the fishing industry in the affected areas
- Efforts to support the fishing industry in the affected areas have been continued at various locations, powerfully backing up the reconstruction.
Cooperation between production areas for expanding oyster consumption (Hiroshima and Miyagi Prefectures)- Hiroshima Prefecture called on Miyagi Prefecture so that the two major production areas of cultured oysters in Japan would cooperate to expand oyster consumption and promote reconstruction of oyster aquaculture in Miyagi Prefecture.- The two prefectures jointly held sales promotion events and recipe contests in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Section 2 : Coping with damage caused by the nuclear power plant accident

- Sales, distribution, and processing of food containing radioactive materials exceeding the standard limit (100 Bq/kg) are prohibited under the Food Sanitation Act.
- Radioactive materials monitoring for fishery products has been implemented in collaboration with relevant local governments, relevant fishing industry/cooperatives and relevant ministries and agencies. Fishery products that have landed at key ports of different locations have been monitored once a week, in principle.
- When radioactive materials close to or exceeding the standard limit are detected in the fishery products, fishers voluntarily suspend fishing operations and/or distribution, or relevant local governments require fishers or distributors to suspend distribution and/or fishing operations.
- Meanwhile, when the expansion of sea contamination is detected, for example, where radioactive cesium that exceeds the standard limit is detected in different locations off the coast of a certain prefecture, the Director-General of the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters (the Prime Minister) directs distribution restriction by area and species.
- Through such system, the government makes sure that fishery products containing radioactive materials exceeding the standard limit are not distributed to the market.

## (2) Status of radioactive materials monitoring for fishery products

- Radioactive materials monitoring for fishery products are implemented mainly for species that have exceeded 50 Bq/kg in the preceding fiscal year and the major species in the prefectures concerned.
- After the accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Station(F1NPS), 28,119 samples had been monitored nationwide by the end of March 2013. Among them, 25,550 samples (90.9%) did not exceed 100 Bq/kg, which is the current standard limit.
- Among 17,597 samples for fishery products sampled outside Fukushima, 17,157 samples (97.5%) did not exceed 100 Bq/kg. Also for demersal fish (sole, flounder, etc.), the ratio of samples exceeding 100 Bq/kg had been decreasing, marking 0.1% in the January–March term of 2013.
- Among 10,522 samples for fishery products sampled in Fukushima, 8,393 samples(79.8%) did not exceed 100 Bq/kg. For demersal fish (sole, flounder, etc.), samples exceeding 100 Bq/kg was 53.0% in the March–June term of 2011, but the ratio had been gradually decreasing to 10.0% in the January–March term of 2013.