The farm ministry intends to open the gates in the dike at Isahaya Bay for about two months to study the cause of poor seaweed harvests in the area, according to the ministry's top bureaucrat.
Yoshiaki Watanabe, administrative vice minister of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, told a news conference Monday data collection must begin by mid-April.
"We have to end the probe in June to avoid floods from the rainy season. It is indispensable to begin the probe in mid-April to conduct a thorough survey," Watanabe said.