Information** on Nagoya Shimbun Channel.
Do you remember? On December 8, I wrote an article titled "A large number of sardine carcasses have been found off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan, stretching for 1 kilometer, and people are picking up fish." In this article, it is written that on the morning of December 7, a large number of sardine carcasses appeared off the coast of Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, spreading a full 1 kilometer of coastline, and the local people dared to pick up fish and eat them at home! It took several days for the local ** to clean up, when the reason why these sardines died in large numbers was suspected to be due to some reason, the density of sardines increased, resulting in a lack of oxygen.
I didn't expect it to be less than a week! A large number of sardine deaths have occurred at the fishing port of Nakiri, Ooh-cho, Shima City, Mie Prefecture, Japan, and it has not been even worse.
Since December 12, a large number of dead small fish have begun to appear at the Nakiri fishing port of Dao Town, Shima City, Mie Prefecture, and some of the remains have decomposed and emitted a foul smell. These small fish are sardines, and they are all over the waters of the harbor, almost turning the surface of the water into a white flower. The city of Shima** said that no harmful plankton was detected in the seawater and that the small fish appeared to have died due to lack of oxygen, and they said that the sardine carcasses were at least 50 tons! Local fishermen and municipalities** have already begun their efforts to collect sardine carcasses.
But as of December 14, the sardines on the sea surface have not decreased much, and even about 85 tons have been salvaged! Local fishermen and ** personnel use fishing nets to catch sardines from boats, and those who meet them on the shore use shovels to pick them up. It was said that the work would continue after the 15th, but some fishermen said at the time that it was estimated that it would not be completed until the 16th! A local fisherman said: "It's the first time I've seen so many sardines floating on the surface of the sea. There are schools of sardines along the shores of the fishing port, so I think the small fish will continue to enter the harbor and die. It's worrying. ”
Shima City** said they are considering adding heavy machinery to improve the work of cleaning sardines after the 16th. Because the smell around the port has become so terrifying that you can smell it even when you close the windows. The reporter who went to the interview said, "It has a pungent smell, which is different from the typical fishy smell." ”
Some of these sardines are processed without any cruelty, while the other part is transported to a fertilizer manufacturer for reuse.
According to the Mie Prefecture Fisheries Research Institute, no harmful plankton has been detected in the seawater in the area, so it should not be caused by phenomena such as red tides. Considering the abundance of sardines in the area, perhaps they were chased by big fish, panicked into a narrow fishing port, and then ran out of oxygen and suffocated to death.
Sardines mainly inhabit the south in Japan, but since last year, the number of sardines caught in the waters near the city of Shima in the north has increased rapidly. According to the Prefectural Fisheries Research Institute, "A large number of fish may be moving north due to rising sea temperatures due to global warming." If the amount increases too much, the oxygen consumption increases, so a large number of deaths can occur in the event of an accident. ”
I wrote about more possibilities in the article published on December 8, but to briefly describe it, it may be related to predator pursuit, weather changes, ocean temperature changes, radiation pollution, etc. If you are interested, you can check it out.
The number of dead fish is still increasing, and it is unclear how the fishery will be affected and when the salvage will be completed.