The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal by fishermen seeking to halt the government-funded project to fill in Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture, letting stand a lower court decision that has allowed the work to proceed.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='200' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='/images/photos2005/nn20051001a5a.jpg' WIDTH='200' HEIGHT='139'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>Work to fill in Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture proceeds. </B></FONT></TD> </TR> <TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>Presiding Judge Kunio Hamada said, 'Given that a dike against tides has closed the bay, it is not clear whether continuing the remaining work in the area would cause substantial damage to fishermen.'</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The Kyushu land-fill project to create farmland and prevent floods started in 1986.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Local fishermen filed a lawsuit after the floodgates of the main dike, 7 km long, were closed in 1997 to keep out seawater in order to facilitate the fill work.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>They claim closing the floodgates is destroying the environment in the Ariake Sea, a nearly landlocked body of water that includes Isahaya Bay and is encircled by Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Saga and Fukuoka prefectures.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>In August 2004, the Saga District Court acknowledged a correlation between damage to the Ariake Sea fishing industry and the project. It granted a temporary injunction to halt the construction work, prompting the government to file an appeal.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Last May, the Fukuoka High Court ruled in favor of the government, saying stronger evidence that the project was causing damage would be necessary to halt work.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The state resumed the project after the high court ruling, hoping for completion by the end of fiscal 2007. Work is now almost 90 percent complete.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'It is a very severe ruling for us,' said Koji Yano, 61, the head of fishermen's cooperative in Arao, Kumamoto Prefecture. 'If we lose our fishing grounds, we have nowhere to go.'</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The Ariake Sea fishermen's association in Fukuoka Prefecture plans to file a lawsuit by the end of this year to demand the government conduct mid- to long-term environmental research in the area.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'We don't intend to change our plan to file a lawsuit, but the ruling –

indicates the court's strong determination (to support for the project). I hope our members won't be too discouraged by the ruling," an official of the fishermen's association said.