But they did spend much more time at a farm inland where there was a large heap of animal feed and in fields where they were probably hunting for invertebrates, small mammals, nestlings and amphibians disturbed by farm machinery during hay cutting and other farming activities.
Even its proponents, though, understand that the nutrients feeding the algae in the coastal communities are primarily coming from cities and farms inland.
Some scientists and environmentalists are calling for moving the salmon farms to inland freshwater pens to protect the ocean environment.
The cheapest solution is usually to put a farm just inland from a mangrove forest and trickle the effluent into it.
"The tsunami roared over embankments in Sendai city, washing cars, houses and farm equipment inland before reversing directions and carrying them out to sea," according to a statement by a Japanese engineer, Kit Miyamoto, circulated by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
"They call us 'saltwater Chinese', unlike the others who arrived here in the 19th century and have settled on farms further inland, close to freshwater rivers," says one such shop worker named Lia.
But if it comes, it will likely include devastating restrictions, such as mandates that all transgenics be farmed at inland siteswhere the cost of a tank system is at least ten times that of a typical cage at sea.
But if it comes, it will likely include devastating restrictions, like mandating that all transgenics be farmed at inland sites, where the cost of a tank system is at least ten times that of a typical cage at sea.
In the country, strong winds and heavy rainfall left heavy damage near the coast, as well as to farms further inland.
As much as 80percentt of the state's water consumption goes to farms far inland, and desalination plants won't have much effect on that, said Heather Cooley, the water program director at the Pacific Institute, an Oakland-based environmental think tank.
