In Futtsu City, Chiba Prefecture, where seaweed cultivation is popular, seeding of seaweed spores on aquaculture nets has begun.
Nori cultivated along the coast of Tokyo Bay in Chiba Prefecture is known as "Edomae Nori", which has a nice color and flavor.
It is held every year at this time when the temperature of seawater begins to drop, and fishermen were busy working early in the morning at the new Futtsu fishing port in Futtsu City.
A water wheel with a diameter of about 2 meters wrapped with aquaculture nets is immersed in a water tank in which glue spores are bred, rotated to adhere to the entire net, and the net with spores is wound up and fixed. Work was also done to immerse it in an aquarium and check with a microscope for spores.
After freezing the net at -30 degrees Celsius, it is expected to be put in the sea by the middle of next month when the seawater temperature drops, and if all goes well, the glue will be picked around the middle of November.
Satoshi Koizumi, 67, the head of the New Futtsu Fisheries Cooperative, said, "I will do my best to deliver a lot of good quality seaweed to consumers."