Since late September, the "red ghost" red tide has swept across Hokkaido, Japan, causing heavy losses to the world's major fishing grounds. According to the latest report of the overseas network on October 13, the Hokkaido government of Japan estimates that a large number of fish have died due to the red tide phenomenon, and the local losses have exceeded 4.6 billion yen (about 260 million yuan).
In this ecological disaster, the most affected are sea urchins and salmon, nearly 90% (about 1500 tons) of sea urchins and 17,800 salmon died as a result. In addition, the growth cycle of sea urchin is relatively long, and it is expected that it will be difficult to catch sea urchins in the coastal areas of Hokkaido in the next five years.
You know, Japanese people love to eat sea urchins. Hokkaido is the region with the largest production of sea urchins in Japan, accounting for 55% of the country's total production. That is to say, in the next 5 years, the supply gap of Japanese sea urchins will be very large, and even the import from Russia, Chile and other countries will have to be increased, and the cost will also increase.
In addition, in recent years, the number of salmon caught in Hokkaido has also become smaller and smaller, and the harvest has dropped by more than 50% compared with 10 years ago. Under the red tide, the death of nearly 20,000 salmon may further impact the local salmon industry. To make matters worse, the mass death toll of fish caused by red tides continues.
It is reported that due to the low water temperature, which is not suitable for the survival of plankton, serious red tides rarely occur in the waters around Hokkaido. However, local surveys have found that plankton species in this red tide rarely reproduce at low temperatures. This means that red tides in Hokkaido, Japan, may not be eliminated in the short term, and the economic losses of local fisheries are even more severe.
In order to investigate the cause of the red tide, Hokkaido officials have met with officials from Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on October 12 to discuss how to solve the ecological disaster of the red tide, and to take precautions in the future to avoid similar situations.
Text | Lu Jiamin title | Xu Xiaobing Figure | Lu Wenxiang | Liao Lisi