一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

Details of activity：Helping the fishermen who cultivate seaweed (Shearing ropes used for rafts)
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（Mr. A ・Age:26 ・ Male   Tokyo resident)

What I felt when I came into contact with the people at the site is that they are all have a positive outlook. Everything they had spent their time and effort on until now has all fallen apart and there is no other way but to start building their lives again from scratch. Electricity only started coming through at the beginning of May, and there being no hospital, the island residents told us warmly how grateful they were for us to come week after week to volunteer.

I felt strongly that despite being in difficult circumstances, in order to be able to live alongside the beautiful sea again, it is necessary to recognize what needs to be done and carry it out. When living in urban areas there is always a tendency to have sparse interaction with neighbours, but in Katsurajima the whole town is like one big family, and regardless of the fact that there was a huge earthquake disaster it felt steeped in a warm atmosphere.

Details of activity：Helping the fishermen who cultivate seaweed (shearing ropes used for rafts)

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（Mr. N ・Age:39 ・ Male   Tokyo resident)

Despite the fact that 850 rafts are to be made by the time seeds need to be attached for seaweed cultivation in autumn, only 300-400 rafts have been completed. Although the work was simple, involving cutting ropes for net spreading to a fixed length using a soldering iron, it was a great help for the small number of fishermen for us to lend our hand with this activity.

（Ms. A ・Age:60 ・ Female   Tokyo resident)

The fishermen of Katsurajima are comprised of about 90% who cultivate seaweed and 10% who cultivate oysters, and those who deal with seaweed are usually referred to as 'seaweed people'. Our work over three days was to help the seaweed people, and we participated in the production of rafts for cultivation. In good seasons during the cultivation period it is possible to harvest five times, the first three times of which are for seaweed, after which they are for seasoned seaweed and seaweed condiments. However a slight change in climate makes it necessary to go out to sea and harvest, otherwise the crop will be ruined, and therefore it is not possible to be off one's guard. The farmers feel that if they have even a small amount of income, they would like to purchase a drying machine and invest in the maintenance inspections that come with it.

（Ms. A ・Age:33 ・ Female   Saitama prefecture resident)

Details of activity：Helping the fishermen who cultivate seaweed (shearing ropes used for rafts)

Though the volunteer activities in Katsurajima aim to support people concerned with the fishery cooperatives and island residents, volunteers themselves can individually think about and then discuss what they felt as a result of their experience, and how to make use of these experiences in their daily lives and work. I feel that if they can maximize the feelings and thoughts they gained from this experience and materialize that in thier actions, it will heighten the importance of these volunteer activities.

With regard to the clean up of swimming beaches, I felt that due to the fact that collected rubbish can only be incinerated once in two weeks, and weather and sea conditions can cause the once-collected rubbish to be dispersed all over again, it would better to carry out this activity in a more organized way.

（Mr. I ・Age:34・Male   Tokyo resident)
 

[Situation of the island]

Seaweed drying machines (see photo) belonging to five fishermen were washed away by the tsunami. With one machine costing around 40 million yen, it is difficult to invest in new equipment, so they have decided to have joint use of the five drying machines that remain.

I felt that the work we carried out this time of cutting ropes necessary for raft production could have been done off-site. In other words if the rope and soldering iron are available, the work could done in Tokyo. Then, even those people who would like to participate in volunteer activities but cannot for various reasons, could participate in this type of work.

In fact, if we were to have people who can travel to the site take part in other activities, I think we would be able to increase the amount of help we can offer to the people of Katsurajima.