There are concerns this year as well that there will be a poor catch of saury, an autumnal treat on the dining table. Efforts should be made to ensure relevant nations abide by an international agreement to prevent excessive saury catches, so the fish can be enjoyed for many years to come.
Japan's haul of saury has continued to decrease. In 2008, its catch stood at about 350,000 tons. The figure has fallen to about one-third of that level in recent years. In 2017, it dropped to about 80,000 tons for a record-setting poor catch. According to a forecast by a government institution, a good catch of the fish cannot be expected this year either. Saury prices will likely exceed last year's level.
The probable cause of the problem is an increase in saury fishing by foreign vessels. Due to the spread of fish-eating culture derived from health-conscious trends, there has been an increase in the number of saury-fishing countries and regions.
In July, the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) -- an eight-member body that includes Japan, China, Taiwan and Russia -- held an annual meeting in which they discussed saury resource management.
During the conference, they agreed to set an annual catch quota of 550,000 tons in the North Pacific Ocean starting in 2020. A breakdown of the total assigns 330,000 tons to international waters, where fishing is possible without restraint, and 220,000 tons to the Japanese and Russian exclusive economic zones (EEZs). The allotment for each NPFC member will be decided at next year's meeting.
Japan's initiative in forming the international agreement can be praised.
However, the catch quota of 550,000 tons compares unfavorably with the 440,000 tons of saury actually caught in 2018. Although the new allotment for international waters has been set at a lower level than the 350,000 tons caught in 2018, reductions in catch quotas are still insufficient. Efforts should be continued to urge other NPFC members to explore whether catch quotas can be further reduced, thereby halting indiscriminate fishing.
Reinvigorate fisheries
Japan had proposed setting catch quotas since 2017. However, China opposed this, saying there was no data clearly indicating the amount of saury resources, a move that prevented the proposal from being adopted.
In April, a committee of NPFC scientists concurred in estimating saury resources at the lowest level in the past 40 years, and China made concessions.
Saury enter Japan's EEZ after moving north in international waters. Japanese saury fishing is mainly carried out by small fishing boats in coastal waters. Taiwan and China use large ships for saury fishing, and they are believed to fish a large quantity in international waters before the fish enter the Japanese EEZ.
A task for the NPFC is to ensure the agreement will lead to a recovery in the amount of saury resources. Each NPFC member is required to voluntarily declare its saury catches. They should share information about fishing boats operating in international waters, among others, thereby keeping watch on each other.
Some have said that recent poor catches in Japanese coastal waters are also due to the influence of changes in water temperature caused by global warming. Saury are said to dislike warm water. The actual conditions related to these matters need to be investigated.
Japan's fishing industry used to be the world's largest, but it is suffering a decline in catches, not just limited to its haul of saury. Appropriate resource management is indispensable for reinvigorating Japan's fishing industry.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 21, 2019)
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