Takeda's trainees volunteer for fishemen's restart

The twenty-four new recruits, trainees of an induction course, of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. volunteered to engage in reconstruction assistance for three days from November 15.

【The trainees attend an orientation.】



After the group of the new recruits arrived at Ishinomaki, they made a guided tour around areas stricken by the disaster such as Hiyoriyama park, the district of Kadowaki and Minamihama, and the town of  Sakanama and Onagawa and then got lectured about reconstruction assistance projects from JEN staff members.
Then they moved to the workplace of Minami-sanriku Oyster Farmers' Association at the town of Minami-sanriku. It is a new cooperative association set up after the disaster by farmers who had been fishing under individual management.

【JEN staff member teaches volunteers how to go about today's work at the workplace of Minami-sanriku Oyster Farmers' Association.】



They got right down to business. On that day they worked on "ear-hanging" scallop spat(piercing the resilium to string them).

【"Ear-hanging" scallop spat】



They tied one-year-old scallops one after another with a rope to hang them in the sea, which had been transferred from Hokkaido.

【An one-year-old spat】



【Trainees get on their work, learning from farmers.】



Some two hundred thousand scallops were just transferred earlier in the day. It's necessary to get the work done before they languish. Farmers usually start their work before down and continue until midnight in the next day, but on that day they could finish their work by five p.m. thanks to those volunteers.

Mr. Sasaki, a farmer with the association, says that the timing of volunteer's help came when farmers were busy harvesting wakame seaweed and kelp and planting sea squirts---quote---"We really appreciate people's applying to be volunteers. I can't say anything except thank you. While we are truly grateful for their help in ear-hanging scallops, we will be also happy if their experiences here in the production center of marine products of Sanriku would remind them of us when they go to a supermarket nearby to pick up marine products." The fisheries in the coast of Sanriku are still under severe conditions; port facilities remain damaged; serious shortage of human resources who support fisheries; harmful rumor. It's important for as many volunteers as possible visit there, witness what happened and is going on there and build a bond with people there.

【The scallops strung together are fork lifted and finally placed on farming rafts.】



【Planting of kelp. Kelps held between twines of a rope grow to about two meters in a couple of months.】



【At the end of the final day, looking back the day's work with farmers, volunteers ask farmers questions that they had in their mind during their work.】



JEN will continue to accept volunteers from enterprises or organizations so as to develop people-to-people links

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