Japan removes pumice pebbles clogging coastline after underwater volcano eruption
- The volcanic stones spewed from the Fukutokuokanoba undersea volcano in the Ogasawara island chain, which erupted in mid-August
- The government has established a task force after ports in Okinawa and Kagoshima were affected, fishing boats damaged, and ferries suspended
The island is about 1,000km (600 miles) south of Tokyo.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told reporters on Friday that the pumice pebbles had so far affected 11 ports on Okinawa and 19 others in the Kagoshima prefecture on Japan’s southernmost island of Kyushu.
About 40 fishing boats have been damaged, including six that were unable to move, and ferry services connecting remote islands in Okinawa and Kagoshima have been temporarily suspended.
He warned that the pebbles are moving farther to the north and could affect other Japanese coasts.
At Kunigami village on the northern tip of Okinawa’s main island, a shovel car started scooping up the massive pebbles that filled the port like a landfill.
The government task force, at its first meeting late on Thursday, decided to provide support for local municipalities as a disaster recovery project.
Damages to fishing industries will be covered by insurance, Isozaki said. The total cost of damages from the volcanic pebbles is still unknown.
Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki told a prefectural task force meeting that there has been a “huge impact on the fisheries and tourism industries as well as the environment” and that the problem must be tackled quickly.
The Japan Coast Guard’s regional divisions routinely monitor the coasts and distribute photos and pebble pile-up updates on a map.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority also watches the pebble movements to avoid any impact on Japan’s coastal nuclear power plants.