Cultivation Beds in Japanese Coast 20 April 2007 No.542 Introduction A harmful rumor caused by infection prevalence of Norovirus (NV) - Small Round Structured Virus (SRSV) which started last December attacked oyster fisheries resulting in reduction of production by 1/3 comparing to the same in an average year. Report says that they are endeavoring to obtain pickup in oyster consumption through the campaign works. By the way, within the Japanese waters, cultivation of oysters, scallops, pearls and/or wakame sea weeds have been prevailing in the various bays, coves and nearby area of the narrow channels. We hope the following information will be of some assistance to our Members. Where cultivation beds locate The oyster culture prevails in Hiroshima, Okayama, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures and the scallops are richly cultivated in Hokkaido, Aomori and Miyagi prefectures. The pearls are produced in Mie, Ehime and Nagasaki prefectures. While the wakame sea weeds are one of the most popular production on the Japanese coast starting from Hokkaido to the Kyushu areas, especially the Sanriku district of Iwate prefcture, the Naruto of Tokushima prefecture and the Awaji-shima Island area of Hyogo prefecture are the well known farming areas. The following illustration shows the typical area where the cultivation beds locate. *Please click picture to enlarge. Cultivation Method There are two cultivation methods, one is the "Direct Cultivation" and the other is the "Hanging Cultivation". Please refer to the attached pictures No.1 and No.2 as well as the illustrations No.1 and No.2 shown in the following pages 3 and 4 with regard to the hanging cultivation. 1.Direct Cultivation Sowing baby scallops (either natural products or cultivated ones) into the shallow waters and leaving them as they are until the harvest. This method is introduced in the Hokkaido area. 2. Hanging Cultivation There are two methods, namely, one is so called the "Raft Method" and the other is "LongLine Method"