The government will suspend a land reclamation project in Isahaya Bay, Nagasaki Prefecture, to allow data to be collected from the reservoir formed by the dike that is blamed for the area's poor seaweed crop this season, Farm Minister Yoshio Yatsu said Tuesday.
Yatsu made the decision after an advisory committee requested data on water quality taken both while reclamation work is suspended and while it is under way.
"It is necessary to quickly conduct an investigation by shielding (the water in the reservoir) from the influence of the reclamation work," the agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister said in a news conference.