Female free divers are gathering seafood again in central Japan after the New Year's Day earthquake had forced them to halt.

On Friday, 130 so-called Ama who work without scuba equipment set off for coastal harvesting areas off Wajima City. Dredging work has made it possible for dive boats to use the city's port, which had been disabled from rises in the sea floor caused by the earthquake.

The Ama divers were able to gather baskets full of a type of seaweed called mozuku. Their cooperative said seaweed is easier to manage than harvested shellfish, which require water tanks and refrigerators that were damaged by the quake.

The group said it would consider resuming hauls of abalone and other shellfish, while monitoring the conditions in the sea.

An Ama named Kadoki Natsuki said the underwater landscape has changed, and that mozuku seaweed was scarce. But she said she was pleased that she could finally dive again.