Source: World Wide Web
According to Japan's "Okinawa Times" reported on the 25th, the recent eruption of the submarine volcanoes on the Ogasawara Islands caused a large number of pumice stones to drift to the coast of many places in Okinawa Prefecture, which not only affected the local fishing and tourism industry, but also caused the Coast Guard patrol boats to break anchor during the shooting exercise.
The coast of the border fishing port in Kokutou-gun is covered with pumice stones (Source: Okinawa Times)
According to reports, aerial footage on the 24th showed that the sea surface of the Kunigami-gun Border Doña Fishing Port in the north of Okinawa Prefecture has been covered with gray pumice stone, and the scene is like cement flowing into the sea, and the ships moored at sea look like they are parked on land. Fishing boats at the Benji-mina Fishing Port have reportedly stopped going to sea for a week, and orders for coastal hotels in the prefecture have been cancelled one after another, affecting the local fishing and tourism industries. The report also said that pumice began to appear in the sea near Kunigami-gun on the 16th, but the area affected by volcanic pumice has now expanded from northern Okinawa to southern Okinawa.
Ships moored at sea look as if they are parked on land (Credit: Okinawa Times)
In addition to the fishing and tourism industries, the navigation of Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessels is also affected by pumice stones. According to reports, the Nakajo Coast Guard Patrol Ship", which is about 100 tons in tonnage, sucked in pumice stones when the engine cooling device sucked in pumice during a shooting exercise 55 kilometers south of Cape Kiya, located in southern Okinawa, on the afternoon of the 23rd. According to reports, the "Island Cloud" was towed by the patrol ship "Ishigaki", which was about 1,000 tons in tonnage, after dropping anchor, and was pulled back to the local port on the afternoon of the 24th.
"Island Cloud" patrol ship infographic
Pumice clogging engine cooling device (Image: Midtown Coast Guard)
The report quoted the Midtown Coast Guard as saying that the engine cooling device of the "Island Cloud" patrol ship would suck in seawater to cool the engine when driving, most likely because the pumice stone blocking the cooling device caused the engine to overheat, which eventually led to anchorage.
According to the Japan Broadcasting Association (NHK) reported on the 22nd, the Ogasawara Islands submarine volcano erupted in August, and experts released an analysis report saying that this was the largest volcanic eruption in Japan since the Meiji period.