Big fish in a small pond

JAPAN (asahi) -- A 1.2-meter-long ocean sunfish leisurely swims past a diver in a preserve at the Hasama Ocean Park off Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture.

The park offers a chance for divers to swim with the large fish inside a netted area 50 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep. The preserve is located about 300 meters off Hasama fishing port on the southern tip of the Boso Peninsula. Three sunfish were in residence as of Friday after some slipped away during rough seas earlier in the week. Even novice, unlicensed divers can check out the sunfish during 30-minute dives for 18,200 yen.

The park opened the preserve about five years ago to shelter some of the approximately 400 sunfish accidentally caught in Hasama fishermen's nets each year.