Fishermen, locals seek to halt toxic water discharge

TOKYO — More than 100 fishermen and locals living near Fukushima will file a lawsuit this week, seeking to stop the release of nuclear-contaminated water from the stricken Japanese nuclear plant, they said on Monday.

Twelve years after one of the worst nuclear accidents, Japan began discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific on Aug 24.

Many Japanese fishermen have been against the release, fearing it will undo years of efforts to improve the industry's image in the wake of the 2011 catastrophe.

More than 100 plaintiffs in Fukushima and neighboring prefectures will file the lawsuit in the Fukushima District Court on Friday, Sugie Tanji, a member of the group's secretariat, told Agence France-Presse.

"The government failed to keep to its promise of gaining agreement from fishermen before taking such a decision to release," she said.

"This is a wrong policy as it ignores strong opposition from not only the Fukushima fishermen's cooperative, but also from cooperatives across the country," a group statement said.

"The release to the ocean can never be tolerated as it brings about further suffering to victims of the nuclear accident."

Tokyo wholesaler Yoshinobu Yoshihashi has seen shipments of items, including oysters, sea urchins and splendid alfonsino, to some Asian neighbors "more than halve".

"We're having it quite rough," Yoshihashi told AFP at the huge Toyosu fish market on Saturday.

The Japanese government "should have done more" to communicate globally the safety of the water before releasing it. "There are some people even within Japan who say they're scared," he said.

On Monday, Lee Jae-myung, leader of South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party, urged Japan to stop the dumping.

Such a move will endanger the safety of people around the world, Lee said during a meeting with global experts and activists, including those from Japan and the United States, who participated both online and in person at the parliamentary building in Seoul.

Lee stressed that the marine dumping was in clear violation of the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972.

"Japan should immediately stop dumping the nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. Our (South Korean) government should file a complaint with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea against Japan," Lee said.

Lee condemned the US' duplicity as Washington supported the marine dumping outwardly while decreasing imports of Japanese agricultural and fishery products.

Struck by a massive earthquake and an ensuing tsunami in March 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant suffered core meltdowns and generated a massive amount of water tainted with radioactive substances from cooling down the nuclear fuel.

Agencies - Xinhua