My Saturday attempt to catch my first Cherry Salmon was plagued by an unfortunate event. After about 2 hours of fishing with no bite, a call came over the marine band that one of the local fishermen was missing. We immediately ceased fishing and joined in the search. At the direction of the Coast Guard, all boats on the water must stop working and join in the search effort. About an hour and a half later the fisherman was found. All boats then reported back to port out of respect. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but from what I can piece together, the 80 something year old Capt was fishing alone and may have suffered a heart attack and fell overboard. Condolences to his family and the people of Higashidori Village.
Really sad news.
ReplyDeleteBy coincidence a similar tragedy happened when I was fishing in Iwate in 2007; almost exactly the same story, an elderly fisherman, working alone, went overboard and was lost at sea.
Much like agriculture, the commercial fishing industry here is in crisis, the average age of fishermen is 65; for a nation that depends so much on fisheries produce as Japan does, the industry is really neglected.