“It was natural to follow a fisherman’s business,” said Mr. Naoya Takahashi as he took a look back. He started working as a fisherman to harvest scallops, oysters, and wakame seaweeds at Tomarihama in Utatsu area with his father, when he was 20 years old. The tsunami destroyed all the aquaculture facilities. But his ship miraculously survived. Still, he could only do part-time jobs to support his family. In the midst of all this, he saw with his own eyes that volunteers from all over Japan were impressed and pleased by marine work, and realized the wonderfulness of the sea at Utatsu and the significance of a fisherman’s work. Upon resuming aquaculture, he created learning-by-experience programs for visitors to become familiar with the sea of Minamisanriku. He was impressed to see how glad people were to experience fishing from a boat. “We can let many people enjoy from the bottom of their hearts our sea. In the future, I hope to enhance the extent of fishery experience.”

“I would like to give more exposure to the fact that Minamisanriku is being restored thanks to many supporters. Above all, I hope that many people learn how wonderful the sea of Minamisanriku is,” he said while gazing confidently at the future.