Carp breeders at Lake Kasumigaura and Lake Kitaura in Ibaraki Prefecture began removing their fish for incineration Tuesday following a government order to destroy all stocks due to a herpes virus outbreak late last year.
It is expected to take two months to fully dispose of the estimated 4,000 tons of carp. The state will pay 80 percent of the current market price of the fish and the full cost of the disposal operations to breeders.
As most of the breeders have decided to shut down their businesses, the area, which held a 50 percent share of the market, will cease to be Japan's largest producer of farmed carp.
The carp herpes epidemic began in October with mass deaths of farmed carp in the two lakes. It was the first known outbreak of the disease in Japan and the number of affected prefectures rose to a dozen by mid-November.
Ibaraki Prefecture had ordered that the carp be disposed of between Dec. 21 and March 31 based on a law to secure sustainable cultivation. The operations were delayed due to the massive amount of carp involved, as it was difficult to find an incineration facility and a place to bury the remains.
Health authorities said earlier that humans are not believed to be at risk from the carp herpes virus.
