Tsunami Damage Oyster, Scallop Farming Rafts in Mie, Miyagi Prefectures; Alert Also Affects Toyota

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:43 JST, August 1, 2025

The tsunami triggered by the earthquake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula damaged oyster and other aquaculture facilities in coastal areas in Japan.

In Toba, Mie Prefecture, where a tsunami wave of up to 40 centimeters was observed, 372 of the about 2,000 oyster floating rafts in a bay were damaged. Even if the rafts are safe, the oysters may have cracked if the ropes they hang onto became tangled, according to the Toba Isobe Fisheries Cooperative.

“The oysters were growing well this year, and we were looking forward to winter shipments, so this is a big blow,” said the chairman of an oyster farmer cooperative.

At Kaneki Suisan’s oyster and scallop farm in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, more than half of its roughly 60 rafts were damaged. The tsunami triggered by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake also hit the company. “It’s frustrating that we have to start all over again after finally getting back to the way things were before the disaster,” the owner said.

It took some time for the tsunami advisories to be lifted, and this had a lasting impact on economic activities. Toyota Motor Corp. temporarily halted production at 14 finished-car plants in eight prefectures on Thursday. This was due to suspending the use of storage facilities for finished vehicles located in coastal areas. Some plants had to stop operations because the supply of parts was delayed.