A panel of third-party experts ended its first meeting Saturday by postponing a decision on whether the gates of a huge reclamation dike traversing Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture should be opened.
The 15-member panel was set up by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry to determine the reasons behind this season's poor seaweed crop, which local fishermen blame on the gates being closed in 1997.
"We will await the direction of debates by the panel of third-party experts," said Yoshio Yatsu, minister for agriculture, forestry and fisheries, at a news conference after attending the meeting.