【Reading】やいづこう

【English Name】Yaizu port

A fishing port in Yaizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, officially named Yaizu Fishing Port. It is composed of three areas, the Yaizu district, the Shinko district, and the Kogawa district, and it has received designation as a designated class-3 fishing port.

The Yaizu district is a base for distant-water tuna longline boats and overseas purse-seine boats, and is said to account for roughly one-third of Japan's entire tuna landing volume. The Kogawa district centers on landings of nearshore fish such as mackerel, sardine, and horse mackerel. The 2024 landings for the port as a whole were announced as about 125,000 tons, amounting to about 43.3 billion yen.

In the Edo period it was known as a port for bonito fishing, and it was officially designated as a fishing port in 1951. In 1954 it also became widely known for the history in which a boat belonging to the port, the Daigo Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon 5), was harmed in the hydrogen-bomb test at Bikini Atoll.

Making use of its locational advantage at roughly the center of the Tokaido, it is a key point of marine-products distribution that delivers fish species indispensable to sushi, such as tuna and bonito, across the country. Two fisheries cooperatives, the Yaizu Fisheries Cooperative and the Kogawa Fisheries Cooperative, each engage independently in its operation.