ISARIBI NO.58

ISSN1346-2512

JapanFisheries
AssociationNO.58, MAR. 2008
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Views and Opinions of Japan’s Fisheries Industry

At-sea Terrorism

IWC members condemn
Sea Shepherd’s terrorist actions by consensus
International society should show its determination
not to succumb to violenceT

he international Whaling Commission
held an intersessional meeting in London, March 6-8, to discuss the future ofthe Commission now polarized sharply
between countries supporting the sustainable
use of whales and those who are against it.
The meeting was convened at the initiativeof the IWC’s Chair and U.S. Commissioner Dr.
William Hogarth and 54 of the 78 IWC member
countries, including Japan, participated.
Akira Nakamae, Deputy Director-General of
the Fisheries Agency and head of the Japanesedelegation at the meeting, said in a press conference in Tokyo on March 11: "The most important result of the meeting was that the IWC
adopted by consensus a statement condemning the series of violent harassment activities
against the Japanese whale research ﬂeet by theSea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) in
the Antarctic.
Nakamae also stated that the Government ofJapan requested countries related with the SSCS
to take deﬁnitive actions against that organization: the Netherlands in which the SSCS vessels
are registered, Australia allowing port calls by
SSCS vessels, and the United States where theSSCS has its headquarters.
He also called on these nations to broadly cooperate with Japan in the investigations into theSSCS's illegal actions.
Regarding the future course of the efforts tonormalize the IWC, the meeting agreed thatthe Chair will lead further exchanges of views

among member countries and will develop his recommendations by May based on the points of improvement in the IWC administration proposed in
the course of this meeting.
Nakamae expressed the hope that the Chair's
recommendations will be agreed at the plenary
meeting in Chile in June, paving the way for theadministration of the Commission to be promoted
in line with them.
He also noted that a steering committee consisting of ﬁve countries (Japan, the United States,Chile, New Zealand and Palau) met several times toprepare for this intersessional meeting.
Nakamae explained that three external experts
on diplomatic negotiations (from Kenya, Peru andArgentina) were invited to the meeting to present
their advice on the administration procedures atthe IWC.
He added that the general atmosphere of themeeting was calm and constructive.
Fisheries Minister gives positive mark to the outcomeof the meeting as a step forward to normalizing IWC
Commenting on the IWC intersessional meeting,Masatoshi Wakabayashi, Japan’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, valued the outcomeof the meeting, especially in that the name of theSSCS was explicitly mentioned, clearly exposing
their illegal activities to the international community, and as a result, a statement of condemnation
was adopted by consensus.
He observed that "the motive of Dr. Hogarth toconvene this meeting was obviously to discuss theISARIBI: First published by the Japan Fisheries Association in October 1992.
JFA President: Isao Nakasu; Editor: Masashi Nishimura

ISARIBI NO.58

MAR. 2008

possibility of rebuilding the relations of trust andimprove the course of discussion and negotiations, based on the recognition that the present
anomalous state of the Commission is not theone desired by the member States.”
Notably, he highly rated the invitation of external experts on international negotiations as a signiﬁcant step forward to realizing a peaceful andsmooth administration of the IWC meetings.
Criminal actions by SSCS can be stopped by Australia and the Netherlands
In the meantime, Keiichi Nakajima, presidentof the Japan Whaling Association (JWA), welcomed the adoption by consensus of a statement
condemning the SSCS's dangerous interferencewith Japan's whale research in the Antarctic.
"The statement urged the SSCS to stop violent
actions, and also called upon each member State
to cooperate in coping with such criminal actions," he noted.
"Australia was a base for SSCS activities. Weurge the Australian government not to allow
SSCS vessels to call on its ports again. We also
call on the Dutch government to immediately deprive the criminal group’s ship of its registration.
Further, we encourage all other countries concerned to impose rigid penalties on these kinds ofunlawful activities," Nakajima said.

Australia criticized of hypocrisy
over kangaroo cullT

he Australian government is now exposed towidespread criticism both at home and overseas for being hypocritical over its planned
kangaroo cull while harshly opposing Japanesewhaling on the pretext of beneﬁt to the environment and wildlife. The government plans to killmore than 400 grey kangaroos on Commonwealthland in North Canberra.
In face of the protest, the Australian Environment Minister Peter Garret ruled out the possibility of stopping the cull, saying that culling isnecessary “to beneﬁt the environment and wildlife
in the long term,” the Canberra Times reported inits March 13 issue. The Times also reported Mr.
Garret as saying that he “did not intend to takeany action on the cull ‘other than to just observe’
events as they unfolded.” “I can understand that
there is a degree of interest when programs ofthis kind are implemented.”
Australia’s kangaroo slaughter is linked to its
stance on whaling. The country is known to be oneof the hardest-line opponents to any type of whaling. To many sound-minded people in the world,
the present action of Australia appears as nothing
but hypocritical.

Seafood Show

5th Osaka International Seafood Show ends in successby attracting 120 participants from Japan and overseas

The 5th Japan International Seafood & Technology Expo Osaka was held under thesponsorship of the Japan Fisheries Association (JFA) at Intex Osaka on March 23 and 24,
with 120 companies both from Japan and overseas displaying their products and technologies attheir booths.
The number of visitors to the show during thetwo days totaled 7,554 mainly from the foodservice industry in western Japan.
At the opening ceremony, JFA president Isao
Nakasu said: "It is a delight to be able to organize
the ﬁfth expo in Osaka, a region having long andunique food traditions. Although the ﬁshing industry is now faced with some difﬁcult issues, suchas soaring oil prices, the preference for seafood
remains strong among Japanese people. I believe
the outlook for the ﬁshing industry is bright if we
continue our efforts in providing consumers withtasty seafood at reasonable prices."
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Poster of the Osaka Seafood ShowISARIBI NO.58

MAR. 2008

The show featured a variety of exhibitions anddisplays in such areas as processing, seasonings
and food additives, freezing and refrigeration,
packaging, distribution machinery, HACCP-supporting equipment and services and food sanitation management machinery.
Among the booths of foreign countries, onethat attracted special attention from visitors wasthat of the Marine Products Export Development
Authority of India which introduced seafood curry for business use, developed jointly with theIndian Spice Board with the speciﬁc aim to suit
the taste of Japanese consumers. Also displayed
at the booth was "Paratha nan," an Indian breadthat matches well with the curry. The products are now used at major restaurant chainsthroughout Japan.
New products and technologies were also presented. As one example, M.I.K. Co. based in

Osaka displayed equipment related to sushi suchas a fully automated sushi roll maker.
Also, ﬁshery research institutions, including theFisheries Research Agency, introduced the resultsof their academic activities. Among them, Kagoshima University presented its studies on aquaculture
feed, and the National Fisheries University demonstrated technology to maintain the freshness ofseafood.
In the course of the show, a total of 25 seminars and symposiums were held on such themes
as ﬁshery aquaculture and sushi. Kazunori Saito,managing director of the JFA, made a presentation on the newly launched Marine Eco-label Japan(MEL Japan) system. Many participants at the expo
showed interest in the new system which is basedon the concept of co-management and is designed
to curtail unnecessary ﬁnancial and physical burdens on the part of producers and distributors.

Outline of Marine Eco-label JapanM

arine Eco-label Japan (MEL Japan), Japan's first seafood eco-labeling system establishedlast December, is now about to be ﬁnalized, with application for certiﬁcation to be acceptedshortly. The Japan Fisheries Association, which is provisionally serving as the Secretariatof MEL Japan, is now staging active publicity campaigns on various occasions both in Japan andoverseas, and the new system has generally been accepted favorably.
What follows is an outline of MEL Japan.
1. Administration of the system
The system is administered by MEL Japan, andthe Japan Fisheries Association’s Operations Division is provisionally serving as the Secretariat.
2. Organization of the system
MEL Japan’s Council administers the entire
scheme, accredits the certiﬁcation bodies, registers industry organizations, and makes decisions
on the certification standards and procedural
rules with the aim to ensure fairness and objectivity. Under the Council, the Technical Committee oversees the development and application of
the certiﬁcation standards, the Public Relations
Committee publicizes the system in Japan andoverseas, and the Audit Committee supervises
the requirements of the certiﬁcation bodies andadministration of the system. Furthermore, theBoard, composed mainly of experts and academics from various areas, is established in order tomake the objectives of MEL Japan widely acceptable. The Board examines the basic administrative matters and advises MEL Japan.

3. Certiﬁcation Bodies
A certiﬁcation body is an entity having a staff
with certain technical knowledge and expertiseby type of certiﬁcation (Fisheries Certiﬁcation andChain of Custody Certiﬁcation) in order to exercise
fair and neutral judgment independent from thatof the applicant and to ensure highly precise inspections. MEL Japan accredits a certiﬁcation bodyon the basis of its compliance with the objectivesof MEL Japan. The effective accreditation period
shall be ﬁve years unless special reasons exist. A
certiﬁcation body conducts inspection activities forcertiﬁcation based on the application from the applicant, reports the results to MEL Japan, and carries out regular management inspections regarding
the contents of certiﬁcation.
4. Industry organizations, etc.
Industry organizations by sector consenting to
the activities of MEL Japan shall be recruited topositively participate in, propagate the system andengage in the exchange of views.
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ISARIBI NO.58
Industry organizations shall advise or act asproxies in the application for certiﬁcation by theirmembers for registration in MEL Japan.
5. Certiﬁcation methods
Certiﬁcation consists of two types: certiﬁcationin the production stage and certification in thedistribution and processing stage. In the production stage, producers (including ﬁsheries cooperative associations and ﬁsheries organizations)will apply for certiﬁcation to an accredited certiﬁcation body as classiﬁed by target species using
the identical ﬁshing method. In the distribution
and processing stage, application will be madeto a certiﬁcation body by operators as classiﬁedby target catch and product. Where necessary,a uniﬁed application can be made for both certiﬁcation in the production stage and distribution
and processing stage. Certiﬁcation standards andguidelines shall be determinedby the Council after discussion
at the Technical Committee on
the basis of the following requirements.

MAR. 2008
stage and for three years or less for the distribution
and processing stage, but regular examinations bya certiﬁcation body may be conducted even in thecourse of the effective period.
6. Attachment of labels(1) Persons or entities that have received certiﬁcation for their product shall be entitled to attach labels set separately for the units of sales or cargo of
the product certiﬁed.
(2) The costs required for the printing of labels
shall be borne by the persons or entities that havereceived the certiﬁcation.
7. Review of the system
The MEL Japan system should be reviewed every
two years to ensure further improvement.

(Certiﬁcation standards in the production stage)(1) Fisheries should be conducted under an effective management scheme;(2) The target resource should
maintain the level of being usedsustainably; and,
(3) Appropriate measures should
be taken for the conservation ofthe ecosystem.
(Certiﬁcation standards in the distribution and processing stage)(1) A management systemshould be in place, such as
the appointment of persons incharge and custody of related
documents; and,(2) Traceability should be secured through (1), etc., and theco-mingling of seafood otherthan the target seafood should
not occur.
MEL Japan conducts certiﬁcation after consultations at theAudit Committee upon receipt of
the certiﬁcation report of a certiﬁcation body, and issues a certiﬁcate to the applicant throughthe certiﬁcation body. Certiﬁcation shall be effective for five
years or less for the production

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