Yoshio Yatsu, head of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, on Friday expressed qualified readiness to open the lock gates of a huge reclamation dike that traverses Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture.
"We cannot help opening the water gates if even a single panelist makes a remark calling for the opening of the gates," Yatsu told reporters in reference to a panel of third-party experts that will convene at his ministry today.
About half of the 15 panelists on the committee are critical of the 7,050-meter-long dike cutting part of the bay off from the sea.