Activists stage a campaign near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul calling for the boycott of Japanese seafood in protest against Tokyo’s plan to discharge into the sea radioactive water from its wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, in this photo taken Nov. 9, 2020. (Yonhap)
JEJU, Nov. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Demand for Jeju Island seafood and the region’s tourism market is expected to fall drastically once the Japanese government releases radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean in April next year, a poll showed Tuesday.
The Jeju Research Institute conducted a nationwide survey of 1,000 people, in which 49.1 percent intended to reduce purchases of seafood from Jeju.
Sorted by product, 50.4 percent intended to cut back on buying conches, 48.4 percent on cutlassfish, 47.6 percent on yellow corvina and 47.5 percent on halibut.
Reflecting this rate of decrease on last year’s production costs of fishery products on Jeju, the island’s fishing industry is expected to sustain losses of 448.3 billion won (US$340 million) each year.
Close to half of the respondents also said they would reduce spending on tourism on Jeju once Japan releases the contaminated water next year.
At 95.7 percent, almost all of the respondents were aware of Japan’s decision to release the radioactive water.
When asked about the decision, 92.3 percent of respondents said that it was a ‘serious matter’.
Another 78.4 percent of respondents expected that Jeju’s fishing industry would sustain more damage from the decision than other regions., while 66.4 percent expected that Jeju’s tourism industry would sustain more damage from the decision than other regions.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
