Poor Oyster Growth Forces Cancellation of Annual Festival in Japan's Toba

Poor oyster growth in Toba, a city in central Japan, has left farmers without market-ready shellfish at the start of the harvesting season, forcing the cancellation of an annual festival. Farmers are hoping cooler seawater will help the oysters recover, Emi Shimomura reported for Mainichi Japan.

Oyster farmers in Toba, Mie Prefecture, are facing poor shellfish growth and losses that have disrupted the start of the harvesting season and forced an annual oyster festival to be canceled.

Oyster farmers in the Uramura district of Toba, Mie Prefecture, are struggling with poor growth among their Pacific oysters. Although the October harvesting season has begun, many shells remain unusually small, and some oysters have died.

The problem has disrupted preparations for the season and led to the cancellation of the annual Uramura Oyster Season Opening Festival.

“They're smaller than usual, so we still can't harvest them for shipment,” one farmer said as he hauled ropes from a raft on October 8, the day the first shipment had been scheduled to begin.

Among the undersized shells, many were visibly open and empty, with no oyster meat inside.

Ounoura Bay, known as one of Mie Prefecture's major oyster-farming areas, is dotted with around 1,250 rafts. At this time of year, approximately 50 oyster-farming businesses would normally be preparing their first shipments.

But Naoki Kakuda, 59, a member of the Uramura oyster cooperative, said the season had begun without oysters ready for market.

“The season has started, but we have no oysters ready to ship. The shells are small and the meat is thin. Many of the oysters have died,” he said.

The poor growth threatens the farmers' seasonal income and disrupts a local industry that depends on harvesting and selling oysters at the start of the season.

Farmers are hoping that cooler seawater will improve conditions for the shellfish.

However, the extent of the losses and the time needed for the oysters to recover remain uncertain.