ISARIBI NO.62

ISSN1346-2512

Japan
Fisheries
Association

NO.62, FEB. 2009
Sankaido Bldg.,
9-13 Akasaka 1, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, Japan 107-0052
tel: 81-3-3585-6683
http//www.suisankai.or.jp

Views and Opinions of Japan’s Fisheries Industry

JFA President’s address

JFA President stresses the potential of ﬁsheries
as a food supplying industry will be greatIn the New Year’s address of the JFA monthly
bulletin “Fisheries World,” Isao Nakasu, president of the Japan Fisheries Association, stressed
the importance of using limited ﬁshery resources
with utmost care.
Reviewing the past year, Nakasu said that2008 was a year full of difﬁculty for the ﬁsheries industry. First, he mentioned the abnormal upsurge in fuel prices that occurred fromspring to summer, which exposed many ﬁshers
around the world to the serious risk of survival.
Although the financial crisis originating in the
United States led to the collapse of “the natural resources bubble” and eased fuel prices, itcaused, at the same time, a rapid setback in theworld economy, causing a decrease in consumption.
He also pointed to a series of accidents andscandals surrounding the safety and security offood, including seafood, which occurred in 2008. It
should be the most fundamental principle for foodsuppliers to secure consumer trust in food quality,
he said.
Meanwhile, “the increasing demand in seafood
around the globe,” he observed, “has provided avaluable opportunity to recognize anew the limited
nature of ﬁshery resources and the importance of
their sustainable use. The global rise in grain prices
last year exposed the fact that the basis of the supply of food, which is indispensable for the survivalof mankind, remains fragile. Fishers are now asked
to make a positive approach to the management ofﬁshery resources, both at home and overseas, andensure their sustainable use.”“Although a difﬁcult situation is predicted for thisyear as well, I believe that the potential of ﬁsheries
as a food supplying industry will be great in a medium- and long-term range,” Nakasu concluded.

MEL Japan NewsRed snow crab ﬁshery is the ﬁrst
to obtain MEL certiﬁcationT

he red snow crab ﬁshery in the Sea of Japanis the ﬁrst to have obtained production stage
certiﬁcation under Marine Eco-label Japan (MEL
Japan). The decision was made at MEL Japan’s
meeting on December 10, 2008.
MEL Japan started recruiting applicants for its
eco-labeling certiﬁcation in April 2008. The Sea
of Japan Crab Pot Fishery Association in Sakaiminato City, Tottori Prefecture, was the ﬁrst to apply for MEL Japan production stage certiﬁcation
for its 12 member ﬁshing vessels licensed by the

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The
12 vessels are from Tottori, Shimane and Niigata
Prefectures facing the Sea of Japan.
The Japan Fisheries Resource Conservation Association, which is the certiﬁcation body for MEL
Japan, carried out both document examination andon-site inspection in compiling its ﬁnal report. The
ﬁnal certiﬁcation of MEL Japan’s Council came after
the examination of the ﬁndings by the Audit Committee.
At the same time, MEL Japan endorsed the cer-

ISARIBI: First published by the Japan Fisheries Association in October 1992.
JFA President: Isao Nakasu; Editor: Masashi Nishimura

ISARIBI NO.62

FEB. 2009
through MEL Japan marine-ecolabels and also try
strenuously in our resource management to live
up to the ideal of the scheme,” Nishino said.
At the moment, certiﬁcation examination is expected to be implemented for the snow crab andflathead flounder fisheries of the Offshore Trawl
Fishery Association of Tottori Prefecture as wellas the stardust shrimp ﬁshery of the Yui Fishermen’s Association and Oigawa Town Fisheries Cooperative Association in Shizuoka Prefecture.

MEL Japan scheme
explained to ICFA at its
annual meeting in Rome

Sea of Japan red snow crab with MEL Japan eco-label logotification on the chain of custody for six firms
dealing in the distribution of red snow crab.
The certification scheme of MEL Japan is inline with the eco-label guidelines adopted by theUnited Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) in March 2005. It is the ﬁrst ﬁsheries ecolabeling scheme in Japan, taking into account theactual situation of ﬁsheries in Japan having a longunique history in fishery production and fisheryresource management. The scheme is managedwith the participation of a wide range of stakeholders including fishers, scientists, distributors
and consumers.
Masato Nishino, president of the Sea of Japan Crab Pot Fishery Association, said: “We arepleased to have been granted the ﬁrst MEL Japancertiﬁcation about seven months after we madethe application.”“We are often asked why we have applied forthis eco-label certiﬁcation. Currently, ﬁsh are being harvested in excess of the scope of sustainable use, and, if this situation persists, the Japanese people may not be able to continue eatingﬁsh. When we consider what we can do as ﬁshers
for the future food policy of Japan, we found it is
crucial to ﬁrst preserve the ﬁshery resources andhand them down to future generations. Therefore,
we decided to obtain the eco-label for our ﬁsheryin order to appeal to distributors and consumers
our posture to put that concept into practice.”“In the future, we will promote our catchT

he annual meeting of the International Coalition of Fisheries Association (ICFA) was heldin Rome for three days from November 11, 2008.
The European Union (EU), Canada, Spain, Chinese
Taipei, Chile, New Zealand, Norway, the UnitedStates, Peru and Japan sent their representatives,with Spain serving as the Chair.
At the meeting, participants exchanged viewson a variety of issues that could impact world
ﬁsheries, and discussed the strategies to be takenin the future. On the third day, ICFA delegates had
an informal meeting with the United Nations Foodand Agriculture Organization.
Below is a summary of some of the major issues
discussed at the meeting reported by Masashi
Nishimura of the Japan Fisheries Association, who
attended the meeting as a member of the Japanese delegation.
(1) Marine eco-label
Japan outlined its marine eco-label (MEL Japan)
to the ICFA representatives. Developing and managing the scheme includes cooperation from nationwide networks such as the Fisheries Research
Agency and the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science—the two organizations having the highestlevel expertise on fishery stock assessment inJapan—as well as the services of the officials incharge of regional stock management in the actual on-site examinations. At the same time, thescheme was designed to widely promote the concept of sustainable ﬁsheries while ensuring trustworthy certiﬁcation at a relatively low cost.
Participants from other countries questioned
whether MEL Japan aims to achieve labeling forpremium products or whether its application range
will be wider. Japanese delegates responded thatthe promotion of sustainable fisheries, which isthe primary objective of eco-labeling, would only
become possible when the scheme is practiced
widely.
Further, Japan explained that eco-labeling canbe used not only for individual products but also

MEL Japan eco-labeling scheme introduced to 170,000 visitors
at the Eco Products Expo in Tokyo, December 2008

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ISARIBI NO.62
as a means to promote a regional approach toward the goal of sustainable fisheries for local
ﬁshing communities. In point of fact, the ﬁshers
who have so far applied for MEL Japan certiﬁcation have such a high awareness.
(2) IUU ﬁshing and excessive ﬁshing capacity
The U.S. and the EU made presentations on
their regulations for IUU fisheries. The U.S.
member said that the U.S. government could
take measures to deny port entry of a vessel
identiﬁed as engaging in IUU ﬁshing under thereauthorized Magnuson Act or prohibit the importation of seafood from a country in whichsuch a vessel is registered. It said that somecountries are already being considered as potential candidates to be included in the IUU list.
The EU member, on the other hand, said the
EU government will regulate IUU fishing by
obliging all the seafood entering the EU to carry
catch documentation. The EU regulations will be
adopted in September 2009 and will be enforced
effective January 2010.
On November 23, after the annual meeting
ended, the ICFA Secretary presented a letter to
Joe Borg, Commissioner responsible for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs of the European Commission, requesting for cautious adjustments sothat nationally- or regionally-led regulations may
not constitute obstacles to international seafood
trade.
(3) High seas trawl ﬁshery
A 2004 United Nations resolution regarding thehigh seas trawl ﬁshery calls for measures against
the impacts on fragile marine ecosystems. Upon
the adoption of the U.N. resolution in 2006, the
FAO and regional ﬁsheries organizations became
the main promoters of concrete efforts on the
management of high seas trawling. The FAO developed guidelines for this ﬁshery, and now work
is underway to establish regional ﬁsheries management organizations—one each in the Northwestern Paciﬁc and South Paciﬁc.
The U.N. will assess those efforts in 2009, andICFA will continue to send its representatives totake part in the U.N. consultations.
(4) IWC
Regarding the chronically dysfunctional International Whaling Commission (IWC), Japan explained the course of discussions with a focus on
the results of meetings to normalize the Commission as well as the consultations on introducing a “safety net” convention which would provide a framework to continue the managementof whale resources in case the IWC collapses
because of its malfunctions.
Japan also drew the attention of the participants to the fact that the extremist animal welfare group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

FEB. 2009
engaged in violent interference of Japan’s whale
research in the Antarctic and some of its members
are on an international wanted list by the Japanesepolice. Japan solicited the attention of other members, by emphasizing that this issue is not only
conﬁned to whaling.
To the question whether Japan would hold fast to
its position on whaling in the years to come, Japanese delegates responded that Japan is committed to pursue the sustainable utilization of whale
resources. They pointed out that the meetings fornormalizing the IWC were held just because the
IWC is not normal, and the discussions on a safety
net convention is proof that the risk of collapse of
the IWC has now assumed a greater reality as science-based management and the sustainable useof whale resources are not duly respected.
(5) Election of Chair and the venue of next
annual meeting
Spain was re-elected as the Chair of ICFA for another two-year term. The next meeting will be heldin Rome in October 2009.

Topics80 mil. tons of aquaculture
production will be needed in
2030: FAO COFI reportThe U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) made public a report on challenges toﬁshery aquaculture to meet the growing demand
for seafood in the world at a meeting of the
Aquaculture Subcommittee of the Committee on
Fisheries (COFI) held in early October.
In the report, the subcommittee estimated thatthe world population in 2030 will reach 8.32 billion.
It further pointed out that, in order to maintainthe annual per-capita seafood consumption of
16.7 kilograms as of 2006, it would be necessary
to increase aquaculture production by 28.5 million
tons from the present 52 million tons to 80.5
million tons.
Fishery production in the world has stayed in
the order of 90 million tons since the latter halfof the 1990s, but aquaculture production, led by
China, grew substantially, exceeding 50 million
tons in 2006. As consumption of meat and poultry
is slowing down in the wake of the outbreak of
BSE and bird flu, demand for seafood has been
expanding. Aquaculture production has supported
this demand, showing an increase of 11.8%
between 1985 and 1995, and continuing a near
10% growth afterwards.
The expansion, however, paced down in the
2000s, with the growth rate shrinking to 6.1%. The
report noted that it might not be an easy task toPage 3

ISARIBI NO.62
boost aquaculture production to the order to 80
million tons by 2030 while ensuring preservationof the environment at producing places.

What's the meaning of the
IWC resolution against
violence of SS?

N

ot only international law but the resolution of
the International Whaling Commission (IWC)against violent acts of Sea Sheperd Conservation
Society (SS) against Japan's whale research
ﬂeets in the Antarctic have been trampled uponagain.
Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, Ltd., the owner of theJapanese research vessels in the Antarctic, said
on February 10 that the international community
must start applying global maritime laws, which
protect ships and their crews from the type ofviolence being perpetrated on the high-seas by
the renegade Dutch vessel, Steve Irwin operated
by the SS.
"A group of extremists is deliberately ramming
vessels and trying to disable their propellers.
The United Nations Convention of the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS) establishes clear rules to preventthe high seas from being a lawless zone. Living
up to these UNCLOS obligations represents a
test for the governments of the Netherlands andAustralia, which have so far hesitated to apply
agreed international maritime rules to preventthese criminal acts," Mr. Kazuo Yamamura, thePresident of Kyodo Senpaku said.
"Over the last week, we have witnessed Sea
Shepherd members firing projectiles at theJapanese vessels, throwing acid-filled glass
bottles onto our decks and deploying speciallydesigned fouling lines to damage our propellers,
among other illegal acts. Then they escalated theattacks by ramming two of our ships--the Yushin
Maru No.2 and Yushin Maru No.3. The vessels
have been considerably damaged.""Failure to apply international agreements
provides support to this animal rights group's useof violence and undermines the rule of law. By
allowing this Dutch vessel safe haven in port, theAustralian Government is complicit in sanctioning
criminal acts on the high seas. These maritime
laws are not options. If they are not applied, they
are of little value.""The escalating terror attacks will necessitate
consideration of new security strategies toprotect our ships and crews," Mr. Yamamura said.
"This is no longer an issue of whaling, but has
become more about the international community
permitting this Dutch ship to commit criminal acts
at sea and thereby putting our crews' l i v e s a t
risk." Mr. Yamamura urged the governmentsof both Australia and New Zealand to no longer
allow the SS safe haven in either country.

FEB. 2009ISARIBI believes that any IWC member country
that does not deny the SS vessel's entry into
its port should know that it is ignoring the IWC
resolution adopted by consensus and admitting
violent activities.

NOAA identiﬁes 6 nations asallowing IUU ﬁshingThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Departmentof Commerce submitted a report to Congress on
January 13 identifying six nations whose fishingvessels were engaged in illegal, unreported, andunregulated (IUU) ﬁshing in 2007 or 2008.
The six nations are France, Italy, Libya, Panama,
the People's Republic of China, and Tunisia.
The report says that fishing vessels fromthose nations do not comply with the provisions
established by international ﬁsheries management
organizations.

Japanese sushi enthusiastically accepted by
Chinese consumersIn early November 2008, seafood distributors from Saeki City, Oita Prefecture inwestern Japan, presented a variety of Japanese sushi at a food exhibition in Dalian,
China.
Saeki City, facing the Bungo Waterway,
is known for its bountiful supply of ﬁsh, including prawn, ﬂounder, yellowtail, mackerel, squid, and sardine--all of which are used
as excellent sushi materials. The people of
Saeki are proud of sushi using their local
ﬁsh, and decided to convey their specialties
to the Chinese people.
At the exhibition booth, decorated bycolorful ﬁshing vessel ﬂags and with ﬁshermen’s songs in the background, many people waited in a long cue to have a taste ofsushi. Chinese visitors who had a mouthfulof sushi were all smiles, saying “Delicious!”
The making of sushi rice and the skillful
cutting of ﬁsh into slices were demonstrated before the crowd of people.
Explained that the subtle combination ofvinegared rice and raw ﬁsh is the essenceof sushi, a representative food of Japan,
Chinese visitors nodded with satisfaction.
The exhibitors were delighted to seethat sushi, which had been one of the local
foods in Japan, has now become truly aninternational favorite.

The readers are cordially invited to send their comments on articles in this issue to mnishimu@suisankai.or.jp--Editor