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

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Clean-up work at a port in Kunigami in the southern Japan island prefecture of Okinawa to remove a massive amount of pumice stones that drifted ashore following an underwater volcanic eruption earlier this year. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 11:45am, 30 Oct 2021Updated: 11:45am, 30 Oct 2021

Massive amounts of volcanic pumice pebbles spewed from an undersea volcano in the Pacific Ocean have been piling up on coasts in southern Japan, damaging ports and fishing boats, and prompting the central government to establish a task force to deal with the unwanted arrivals as a natural disaster, officials said.

The grey pebbles were spewed from the Fukutokuokanoba undersea volcano in the Ogasawara island chain, which erupted in mid-August.

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.