Nagasaki Gov. Genjiro Kaneko has agreed to allow the floodgates on Isahaya Bay in Kyushu to be opened for a survey to see how a controversial land reclamation project is affecting the local ecosystem.
Kaneko gave the nod for the project during an eleventh-hour meeting with Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe at the ministry in Tokyo on Monday night.
The prefecture had been the last major opponent to the gates' opening, which is expected to last for two months. The farm ministry has said that for the probe to conclude before the rise in water levels with the onset of the rainy season in mid-June, the gates had to be opened by the middle of this month.