Japanese fishermen take to the seas using refurbished boats provided by Operation Blessing.

KESSENUMA, Japan – Japanese fishermen whose way-of-life was severely impacted following the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, are getting the help they need to start over.

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Operation Blessing teams delivered 42 fishing boats to local fishermen in Hikado Fishing Harbor who have been out of work since the disaster.The boat delivery was the first of what could be a donation of hundreds of boats by OBI in the coming months.

When the 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck, the most powerful known to hit the island nation and one of the five most powerful ever since modern day record-keeping began, Japan’s fishing industry was nearly decimated as thousands of boats and entire seaweed and shellfish cultivation operations were destroyed.
 
“The earthquake wiped out the means of making a living for thousands of traditional seaweed, shellfish, and conventional fishing families,” said OBI president Bill Horan. “Many of the boat builders were also destroyed, so there is currently an extended waiting time for new boats to be built – up to a year. That is simply too long of a wait for these hard-working fishermen, so we combed the country and found good used boats and motors that met our standards. We delivered 40 boats and motors to selected families, all with children,” said Horan. But this is just the first step. Horan said he found a boat builder in the United States who specializes in workboats, and it is very likely that OBI will be able to place an order for at least 20 boats, possibly more.

Operation Blessing president, Bill Horan, delivers boats to fishermen, enabling them to once again provide for their families.

“If this pilot project works, we’ll be in a position to offer our donors the opportunity to adopt boats for Japanese fishermen and their families,” Horan said.

One of the first relief organizations to arrive, hours after the earthquake struck, OBI delivered tons of food, water and kerosene to survivors in devastated areas. In addition, the charity delivered industrial grade generators, refrigerators and washing machines to the isolated Urato Islands lying off the coast of Miyagi.
 
More recently, the charity has focused on helping fishing communities that lost homes, workplaces, boats, fishing equipment, nets, and oyster and seaweed cultivation apparatus to the tsunami.  In one project, OBI provided laptop computers to the JF Miyagi Fisheries Cooperative, for the fishermen to reach out to the nation via their own Web page. Since the project’s launch, the cooperative has received pre-orders worth several million dollars for sea produce to be delivered when the industry is revitalized.
 
In another ongoing project, OBI provided fishermen on the Urato Islands with oyster and seaweed cultivation equipment and gill nets. The gill net fishermen are already producing good catches of flatfish and other varieties that are being sold at the re-opened Shiogama Fish Market, one of four major fishing ports on the Miyagi Coast, and the only port able to reopen since the earthquake.

Families of fishermen observe as the boats from Operation Blessing are presented to each worker.

On June 1, OBI opened its Tohoku Operations Center in the town of Tomiya, just north of Sendai, strategically located to provide quick access for OBI teams reaching out to various parts of the disaster zone.

From April through August, Operation Blessing conducted eyeglass clinics in 18 locations along the coast of Miyagi and Iwate Prefecture providing free eye exams and prescription glasses to almost 2,000 survivors living in shelters and temporary housing. This unique program provides glasses to survivors who lost their glasses to the tsunami.

To date, Operation Blessing has provided assistance to disaster victims in Shiogama, Urato Islands (Katsurajima, Nonoshima, Sabusawa), Ishinomaki, Onagawa, Ogatsu, Tome, Minami Sanriku, Oya, Motoyoshi, Kessenuma, Rikuzentakata, and Otsuchi.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.

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