Snow crab fishermen head out to sea as fishing season starts

Snow crab fishermen head out to sea as fishing season starts

YONAGO, Japan - Sent off by family members and other well-wishers, a Japanese snow crab boat heads out to sea from Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture on Aug. 31 as the fishing season for snow crab in the Sea of Japan starts on Sept. 1. According to the fishermen's cooperative in Sakaiminato, Japan's largest crab fishing port, the volume of snow crabs caught in the Sea of Japan has been declining gradually partly due to over-trapping. To conserve the snow crab population, snow crab fishermen in Japan have imposed a ceiling on the volume of snow crabs to be caught starting this year. Fishermen are also required to use trapping baskets with 9.5-centimeter rings to enable smaller crabs to escape when trapped. Japanese fishermen caught 10,952 tons of crabs in the Sea of Japan last year, 60 percent of them snow crab.

Snow crab fishermen head out to sea as fishing season starts

Snow crab fishermen head out to sea as fishing season starts

YONAGO, Japan - Sent off by family members and other well-wishers, a Japanese snow crab boat heads out to sea from Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture on Aug. 31 as the fishing season for snow crab in the Sea of Japan starts on Sept. 1. According to the fishermen's cooperative in Sakaiminato, Japan's largest crab fishing port, the volume of snow crabs caught in the Sea of Japan has been declining gradually partly due to over-trapping. To conserve the snow crab population, snow crab fishermen in Japan have imposed a ceiling on the volume of snow crabs to be caught starting this year. Fishermen are also required to use trapping baskets with 9.5-centimeter rings to enable smaller crabs to escape when trapped. Japanese fishermen caught 10,952 tons of crabs in the Sea of Japan last year, 60 percent of them snow crab. (Kyodo)

Robot toy playing soccer

Robot toy playing soccer

Tomy Co. employees demonstrate the company's new product "Soccer Borg," a 9.5-centimeter-tall robot toy that can be operated by a remote controller, in Tokyo on April 11, 2018. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo