About 200 members of a Fukuoka fisheries cooperative association began a sit-in here Wednesday to protest the construction of a second, internal dike as part of a land-reclamation project in Isahaya Bay.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry plans to build the second dike to create a reservoir and farmland, sparking opposition from fishermen and others who say that if it is built, the tidelands in the bay will never recover.
The Ariake Sea fisheries cooperative association has been calling for cancellation of the project and for midterm and long-term studies, but the ministry told the association last month it will continue with its plan to complete the project within fiscal 2006.
The fishermen also handed a letter of protest to officials at the agricultural administration office.
Isahaya Bay is part of the Ariake Sea, a nearly landlocked body of water encircled by Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Saga and Fukuoka prefectures.
The bay is the site of a reclamation project to create farmland and a large reservoir surrounded by a 7,050-meter-long outer dike. The dike's floodgates were closed in 1997 to keep out seawater to facilitate the reclamation work.
The protesters said they plan to continue the protest in front of the Kyushu Agricultural Administration Office in Kumamoto through Friday.
