Fishermen in Kumamoto Prefecture on Thursday rejected a compensation offer from the government to build a dam that would affect their fishing areas, again delaying a project first proposed 35 years ago.
Although the Kuma River Fishermen's Cooperative voted 802-620 in favor of taking the package offered by the Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Ministry at an emergency meeting here, the number of those who voted for it fell far short of the two-thirds majority necessary for approval.
The voting session opened at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday and was attended by 1,505 of the cooperative's 1,812 regular members, including those who sent proxies. It lasted until early Thursday morning.
Opponents of the dam hailed the result as a victory to protect "Japan's most beautiful fresh waterways."