Memberships of fisheries cooperatives in the three prefectures of northeastern Japan hit hardest by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami tumbled 24.4% in the years after the disasters, in a decline sharper than that seen in the national average, a Kyodo News tally based on data from their unions showed Thursday.
The sharp decrease came as members abandoned the industry after losing their homes or fishing boats in the massive tsunami or because of evacuating their hometowns due to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear crisis, officials at the cooperatives said.
The total number of fisheries cooperative members in the three prefectures — Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima — had fallen to 19,910 at the end of 2019 from 26,325 at the end of 2010, around two months before the disaster, according to prefecture-wide bodies.