All director-generals felt that the New Rice Policies should aim to facilitate effective paddy field management by adjusting rice production and to promote cultivation of rice suited to consumer demands. Participants reported that sales agents anticipate that as a result of the New Rice Policies, the Orderly Marketing System for rice will function well and contribute to stabilization of the price of rice despite the current difficult domestic market environment. Consumers are also anxious for the price of rice to stabilize and, accordingly, support some sort of financial support for rice farmers. Residues from Nahodkha Oil Spill Finally Disappearing On January 27, the Fisheries Agency and affected prefectures released the results of a survey on the impact on the marine environment of oil spilled into the Japan Sea from the Russian tanker Nahodkha in January 1997. The survey showed that the final residues from the spill had almost entirely disappeared, except for certain limited areas, as of December 1997.
Oil continues to spill from the sunken stern.
The concentration of oil in sediment ranged from ND to very low, except for one area of the shoreline where oil had drifted ashore. Oil dispersants were detected in neither sea water nor sediment. The concentration of oil and oil dispersants in marine organisms in polluted areas ranged from ND to the same level as those in non-polluted areas. Distinct biological changes in distribution, biomass and species composition, among others, induced by oil pollution and oil dispersants have not yet been measured. Statistics on the Marketing of Frozen Fisheries Products, December 1997.