Japanese photographer dives beneath floating pumice to shoot unique video

The Yomiuri Shimbun

November 12, 2021

The seas around the main island of Okinawa Prefecture are rockier than usual — just not in the way you’d expect. The area from the shore of Nago’s Nakaoshi district to dozens of meters offshore is inundated with floating pumice stones. Oil fences were installed in Nakaoshi fishing port to guard the boats there from their approach.

The water around the vessels for both commercial and recreational fishing at Seragaki fishing port in the village of Onna was covered by a 10-centimeter thick layer of the stones ranging from several millimeters to several centimeters in size, eclipsing the seafloor below.

The president of a local fisheries cooperative association regretfully said: “As the coronavirus pandemic has finally calmed down, I had expected to see a recovery in the demand for fish and scuba diving. However, both fell through. Arranging for heavy machinery to remove pumice stones is difficult.”