Olympics facing a fishy $1.28 million problem

Officials in Tokyo are nervously eyeing the waters at a major Olympic venue

A plague of oysters has cost the Tokyo Olympics $1.28m in emergency repairs.

The Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo Bay which will host the canoeing and rowing events had been ready ahead of schedule – but nobody could anticipate what would happen with a growing oyster plague.

Massive amounts of Oysters had attached themselves to floats intended to stop waves bouncing back across the water and onto the athletes.

The oysters were discovered when puzzled officials began investigating why the floats had started sinking.

Solving the issue has been a time consuming and expensive

The oysters have caused damage costing $1.28m to repair.

Damaged equipment that spans 5.6km, either had to be dragged ashore and repaired or cleaned in place by teams of divers.

In total, officials have removed 14 tonnes of oysters

And these weren’t just any shellfish. Officials found they were magaki oysters, which are a hugely popular delicacy during the winter in Japan.

However, they haven’t been able to take advantage of their bumper harvest.

“We did not consider consuming them,” a member of the team told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. “That would entail safety checks.”

Although prices vary around the world for shellfish, these oysters could easily be worth tens of thousands of dollars.