■Open floodgates to restore the Ariake Sea：
Asia & Japan Watch（AJW） Editorial 20140617
The government is being forced to pay 490,000 yen (about $4,900) to plaintiffs
per day as a penalty
because it is not abiding by a finalized court ruling.
Needless to say, the fine is coming out of taxpayer money. The unbelievable
penalty stems from a 2010
Fukuoka High Court ruling.
In 1997, Nagasaki Prefecture’s Isahaya Bay, located in the western part of the Ariake Sea in the Kyushu
region, was closed off from the sea by a wall of floodgates for a government
land reclamation project. As
a result, a wide area of tidal land disappeared.
The 2010 court ruling ordered the government to open some of the floodgates within three years to
assess the impact the opening will have on the environment in the sea.
Though the deadline for the
opening came in December 2013, the government has yet to comply.
Subsequently, the plaintiffs, many of whom are engaged in the local fishing
industry, filed a petition with a
court to require the government to abide by the ruling. As a result, the
fine was assessed until the
government complied.
Why does the government refuse to comply? The Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry
and Fisheries says that
the Nagasaki prefectural government and people engaged in farming the
reclaimed land are opposed to
the opening of the gates.
In November 2013, the Nagasaki District Court issued an injunction that
sided with the farmers’ request
barring the opening of the floodgates.
The farmers also filed a petition to force the government to comply with
the court's decision. Their
demand that the government be forced to pay 490,000 yen to the plaintiffs
per day if it opens the gates
was also approved by the court.
Whether it opens the floodgates or not, the government has to pay a penalty.
Saying, “Opening the
floodgates or being prohibited from opening the floodgates, we cannot
take sides on the two opposing
positions,” the government is caught in a dilemma.
However, behind the conflicting court rulings is the government’s stubborn
stance.
The government has yet to acknowledge the causal relationship between the
closing of the bay and
damage to the local fishing industry. The stance worked to the disadvantage
of people engaged in fishing
in the hearings at the Nagasaki District Court.
It is futile to spend more time for arguments in courts. It is the time
to leave the judicial system for now
and turn attention to the situation in the bay.
In the huge reservoir set up in the closed bay, the water quality has deteriorated,
where noxious
blue-green algae is being generated in large quantities every year. When
the water level in the reservoir
rises, the water there is discharged outside the closed bay. As a result,
the reservoir has become a source
of pollution in the Ariake Sea.
After the bay was closed, benthos, such as lugworms, decreased sharply
in the entire Ariake Sea. Some
researchers show that the decrease could be one of the causes of the damage
to the fisheries industry.
In 2002, the agriculture ministry opened the floodgates for a short period.
Then, the number of benthos
increased sharply in less than a month. If seawater is allowed to flow
into the reservoir, part of the
purification function of the tidal land will be restored. As a result,
a way to improve the environment in the
reservoir and the Ariake Sea will be gained.
Opponents of opening the gates say that if they are opened, the livelihoods
of farmers will be damaged.
However, the ministry is showing confidence in measures to prevent adverse
effects. If farmers have
anxieties over these preventative steps, the ministry will be able to strengthen
the measures.
What we cannot understand is the Nagasaki prefectural government's insistence
on continuing to refuse
even discussions on opening the floodgates. How much longer will it allow
the conflict between
local people to continue?
Now is the time for all the people concerned to combine their wisdom toward
the restoration of the
environment in the Ariake Sea and reconciliation between local people.
--The Asahi Shimbun, June 15