The government said Tuesday it will buy marine products to support fishermen, as an emergency step, if the planned discharge into the sea of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant negatively impacts sales.

The government is considering setting up a fund that can be used flexibly to buy seafood from Fukushima Prefecture and other parts of Japan, according to a plan compiled to help fishermen threatened by reputational damage, government officials said.

The move came amid calls from fishermen to come up with specific measures to prevent reputational damage to marine products following the government's decision in April to start discharging the water from around spring of 2023.