The images of destruction, pain and fear from Japan’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami are tragic. Friends and relatives around the world wait for word on the nearly 7,000 people killed and an estimated 10,000 more missing and feared dead, many in the hard hit area of the country’s northern ports where fishing is a way of life.
In the face of adversity, members of the global seafood industry take care of each other; after the U.S. disasters of 9/11, the Gulf hurricanes Katrina and Rita and last year’s oil spill, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and now Japan, the biggest seafood consuming nation in the world. People in the seafood industry are not worried about the market impacts — they are worried about people.
The ripple effects on worldwide supply will be felt for many months, if not years, to come. Simple necessities such as electricity to run processing and cold storage facilities will be hard to come by. Buyers have expressed concern over possible radiation from the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan that could contaminate fish and other food exports. Scientists say this is more of a precautionary approach and not based on fact. Given the impact the tsunami had on the big fishing ports in Northern Japan, it’s unlikely product would be exported from the region for many, many months.
It’s easy in this era of 24/7 information to immediately switch to something else. But I urge you to donate to the Japanese Red Cross Society at www.jrc.or.jp/english. The grief and loss this country has suffered will last forever, and they will need help for years to come to rebuild the basics of their seafood industry.
