ISARIBI NO.79

ISSN1346-2512

ISARIBIJapan
Fisheries
Association Fishing Fire

漁火

NO.79, DEC. 2013
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

ICFA

Japan discusses major issues of importanceat recent ICFA Annual MeetingThe International Coalition of Fisheries
A s s o c i a t i o n s ( I C FA ) , t h e l a r g e s t n o n governmental organization of the world’s
fisheries industry, held its annual meeting in Rome,
October 17-18. During this period, ICFA also had
an informal exchange of views with the U.N. Foodand Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Given below are the meeting's major agenda
items, centering on issues of special importancefor Japan's fisheries industry.

1. Restoration of the area stricken by themassive earthquake and tsunami in March2011 and the control of damage caused bynegative rootless rumors on the nuclear
power plant accident
At the outset of his presentation, Toshiro Shirasu,
president of the Japan Fisheries Association who
headed the Japanese delegation, expressedgratitude to the countries and ICFA members fortheir assistance for the distressed areas. He also
noted his appreciation for ICFA’s adoption of the
Resolution to Support Restoration of the Japanese
Seafood Industry Affected by the Mega Earthquake
and Tsunami, and its submission to the FAO during
the 13th session of the FAO Sub-Committee on Fish
Trade held in February last year. Subsequently,
Shirasu reported on the actions Japan has taken
since last year for restoration from the disaster andrequested continued cooperation. ICFA members
highly valued the efforts made by Japan.
The losses caused by the disaster amounted
to 1.3 trillion yen--a figure comparable to Japan’s
overall fishery landing value of 1.4 trillion yen andJapan’s seafood import value of 1.3 trillion yen.

Shirasu (center on the far side) addressses ICFA meeting

Almost all the damage--a loss of about 1 trillion
yen (about 10 billion US dollars)--has been covered
under the government’s budget. However, although
the budget for the restoration was allocated, actual
restoration and rehabilitation processes have notbeen advanced as smoothly as expected because theadministrative mechanisms of the local autonomies
and fisheries organizations have been seriously
disrupted, prices for construction materials increased,
and there was a labor shortage.
Regarding the recovery of the fisheries sector,
thanks to the financial assistance by the government,
the fishing ports have been repaired to the extent
possible, and fishing vessels--mostly small typevessels--have been largely rehabilitated.
As a result of such efforts, fish landings haverecovered to 60% or 80% of their level in 2010, theperiod before the Tsunami.
Nevertheless, the rehabilitation of processing
facilities, for instance refrigeration and chilling

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

ISARIBI NO.79

DEC. 2013

equipment, has been in delay. The reason for theslow recovery is that processors have lost theirmarkets due to lost production for two years,
which weakened their motivation to bounce back.
In addition, enterprises have been in a difficult
situation burdened with past loans and unable tobear additional costs.
In this regard, the keys to accelerate the recoveryof the fisheries sector are (1) to increase domestic
seafood consumption and (2) to expand seafoodexports.
Negative rootless rumors about the impact of
the nuclear power plant accident
As a serious obstacle to the promotion of domestic
seafood consumption and expansion of seafoodexports, there still exist persistent rootless negative
rumors about Japanese seafood because of theaccident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. It isregrettable to see that a certain country is enforcing
a total import ban on seafood from affected
prefectures, regardless of whether the seafood
actually contains radioactive substances.
As explained last year, rigorous monitoring is being
carried out on seafood from the disaster-stricken
areas. All-inclusive measures are being taken sothat any fish found to have radioactivity above thebenchmark level in monitoring surveys will not be
supplied to the market.
Specifically,i) No fishing operation is taking place in the area
near the Fukushima Power Plant;ii) Monitoring surveys are conducted so that any fishwith radioactivity above the benchmark will not be
supplied to the market; andiii) The Japanese benchmark value of 100 Becquerelof radioactive cesium is the most rigorous standard
in the world.
Based on the above observations, Shirasu renewed
his request for understanding and continued
cooperation from ICFA members with regard to thepromotion of imports of Japanese seafood to theircountries.
In this connection, it should be noted that after
the ICFA annual meeting, Masanori Miyahara, Deputy
Director-General of the Fisheries Agency of Japan,
explained at the Foreign Press Center in Tokyo on
October 13 that a carefully thought-out inspection
and monitoring system is now being implemented
to ensure the safety of seafood distributed in Japan.
He emphasized that the Japanese government ismaking every effort to eliminate damage caused byrootless negative rumors, saying that scientific dataon fish from the affected areas is continuously madepublic and the agency is ready to respond to anyquestions that may be raised from consumers.
2. Proposed resolution on fisheries and foodsecurity
Japan proposed that an ICFA resolution be
developed on fisheries and food security urging the
FAO to make greater efforts in the promotion ofworld food security, noting that as a common issue
to many other agenda items, the importance of thefisheries industry to the world’s food security is not
fully recognized while the conservation movement istaking a course towards extremism. Japan’s proposal
was backed by other ICFA members, and it wasagreed that ICFA will initiate an effort to develop sucha resolution in the years ahead. ISARIBI will again
report on this matter when the resolution is adopted
by ICFA.
3. Conservation of tuna resources(1) Pacific bluefin tuna
On this issue, Shirasu said he would like to sharewith other ICFA members Japan’s concern regarding
bluefin tuna fisheries in the Pacific and seek theirunderstanding.
He elaborated as follows:-Japan catches about 70% of the Pacific bluefin tuna
catch and consumes about 80% of the world supply,
and, therefore, Japan is convinced that it shouldplay an important role for the conservation andmanagement of the stock.
-Regarding the stock assessment of the Pacific bluefin
tuna, the International Scientific Committee for Tunaand Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean(ISC) reported in July this year that the stock is being
overexploited and its biomass is at a historic lowlevel. Based on these findings, the ISC recommended
reinforcement of the stock management.
- The 9th meeting of the Northern Committee of theWestern and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission(WCPFC), held in Japan in September this year,
agreed to recommend at the WCPFC General Meetingin December 2013 to adopt the 2014 conservationand management proposal submitted by Japan.
The proposal aims at reducing the catch of juvenile
bluefin tunas by 15% from the 2002-2004 average.
-The Japanese government as well as the industry
continues to make efforts to address this issue.
Shirasu appreciated the understanding and support
by ICFA members.
(2) Increasing fishing capacity of large-scale
purse-seiners
The fishing capacity of large-scale purse-seiners
in the world, especially in the Western and Central
Pacific Ocean, is sharply increasing, despite the factthat the Japanese purse seine fishing industry has
been maintaining its capacity consistently at the

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ISARIBI NO.79
same level for the last 18 years and also has been
making efforts to reduce the by-catch of bigeyetuna, keeping the catch below the target level ofthe conservation and management measures of the
WCPFC.
In 1997, the number of large-scale purse-seine
fishing vessels in the region was limited to 205. But
now it is reported that the number exceeds 300.
(Japan restricted its number of vessels to only 35,
while other countries increased their numbers.)
The catch amount of tunas by purse-seiners in
the region rapidly increased as follows.
154,000 tons in 1981
993,000 tons in 1991
1,144,000 tons in 2001
1,543,000 tons in 2011
(Data by the WCPFC Year Book 2011)
Overfishing of bigeye tuna is now occurring in theregion, prompting the WCPFC Scientific Committee
to reduce the catch of this species. Purse-seine
fishing operations using fish aggregating devices(FADs) are causing a direct impact on the stock. The
WCPFC is making efforts to introduce management
measures to tackle this problem.
(3) Elimination of IUU fishing-It is needless to say that illegal, unreported andunregulated fishing (IUU) activities undermine thesustainable utilization of fishery resources, and thatelimination of IUU fishing is a professed desire of
the international community.
-Japan has also been positively coping with thisissue, especially in the field of tuna fisheries withthe aim to ensure the sustainable use of tuna
resources. This is because Japan is a principal
producer of tunas as well as the largest consumerof sashimi tunas in the world.
-Japan’s experience shows that the key to eliminate,prevent and deter IUU fishing is to shut out of themarket the fish caught by IUU fishing activities.
-At present, regulations by the regional fisheries
management organizations (RFMOs) have been
taking effect to eliminate IUU fishing products
from the market. These regulations include (1)the Positive List that authorizes only legitimate
fishing vessels, registered with RFMOs, to engage
in international tuna trade, and (2) the obligation
to submit information on fisheries production to therelevant government(data on international trade,
Catch Documentation Scheme, etc.). Enforcing
these regulation schemes rigorously, Japan has
been preventing the entry of IUU tunas into thedomestic market.
-In this connection, Shirasu drew the attentionof the ICFA members to a unique organization

DEC. 2013
established in Japan through cooperation of theJapanese government and the tuna fishing industry
to tackle IUU fishing. It is the Organization for the
Promotion of Responsible Tuna Fisheries (OPRT).
Major tuna longline fishing associations in Japanand foreign countries as well as distributors andconsumers in Japan joined OPRT to promote theelimination and prevention of IUU fishing activities.
The Japan Fisheries Association is also a member of
OPRT and supports its activities.
(4) Excessive enforcement of measures toprotect sharks
Some countries seem to have prohibited recently
any fishing vessel from retaining sharks onboard
regardless of the species and fishing grounds.
Reportedly, they seize the vessel if any shark is
found onboard, even during innocent passage. But
these measures could hamper legitimate fishingactivities. Therefore, excessive and unreasonable
protection of sharks should be stopped.
4. Moves to restrict bottom trawling
ICFA decided to oppose any excessive measures
to restrict bottom trawling in the years ahead, taking
into account the FAO’s work vis-&agrave;-vis the
new fisheries legislation to prohibit bottom trawling(then discussed at the European Union parliament)
as well as the concern that such a ban might expand
to other areas of the ocean.
After the ICFA annual meeting, the EU voted andadopted this draft legislation on November 4. But
additional amendments seem to be still on the table.
JFA will continue to follow the issue and report on it
as appropriate.

MEL Japan NewsMEL Japan product users aim tobecome smart consumers
Hiroko Shirakawa
Aomori Prefecture Consumers' AssociationI

would like to express my appreciation for the
fruitful exchange of views we had at a meeting on
February 22 for promoting the Marine Eco-label
Japan (MEL Japan) scheme.
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ISARIBI NO.79
We, as a non-profit organization, have been
engaged in activities in all areas we could in the
midst of drastic changes in society. Our aim is tobuild a safe society--one in which all the people
can lead a secure life. Over the past several years,
we have focused our attention on the theme offood from various perspectives through the eyes ofconsumers. Our keywords have been "to support
food life by knowing, choosing and buying food."
Under these circumstances, this meeting on the
promotion of the Marine Eco-label Japan (MEL
Japan) scheme, based on previous study meetings,
presented a truly timely opportunity for us to getcloser to our goal.
Most of the related organizations that attended
the MEL Japan Council meeting came from westernJapan, an area having a number of certified
fisheries. Notably, I was much impressed by thehigh-level awareness in Kochi Prefecture which has
committed considerable energy to the promotion of
the scheme, including budgetary arrangements. I
was no less impressed by the enthusiastic concept
and approach of fisheries cooperatives in eachprefecture.
In the case of Aomori Prefecture, most consumers
have little or no knowledge on what MEL Japan is.
Here we have a clear lack of information. In the areaof agriculture, our association has conducted fairly
wide-ranging activities, including study sessions,visits to farms and the exchange of views withproducers, and have accumulated a considerable
amount of knowledge among participants. In thecase of fisheries, however, the reality is that there
has been almost no circulation of information. In

DEC. 2013

Aomori Prefecture, which is surrounded by the sea on
its three sides and has benefited from an abundanceof fish, we consumers seemed to have eaten seafood
as a matter of daily routine without giving any special
thought to the state of the resources. We tended tothink that the conservation of the marine environment
only meant annual programs such as collecting
garbage and debris on the beach and in the sea toclean the marine surroundings.
In the eco-friendly fisheries tour program which weorganized last October, we began to have participants
visit fishing villages, and learn from, and exchange
views with, fishermen. On that occasion, the Japan
Fisheries Association has been instrumental in
explaining the MEL Japan scheme to us in an easyto-understand way. Thanks to this assistance, theconsumers who took part in the program became
interested in the information that they heard forthe first time from the perspective of resource
management. This was clearly shown in essays later
submitted by participants.
We learned from, and exchanged views with,fisheries cooperative members, prefecture officials,
d i s t r i c t m a n a g e r s a n d s a l e s s t a f f, a b o u t t h ebackground leading to MEL Japan certification forcorbicula clam gathering by the Jusan Lake Fisheries
Cooperative and for spiny dog fish by the Mikuriya
Fisheries Cooperative. Through these activities,
we came to obtain knowledge on how MEL Japancertified seafood is friendly to the environment andcan become local brand products. Then, we had theopportunity to actually eat soup using MEL Japancertified corbicula clams and made a tour of the fishingports to promote exchange with local fishermen anddeepen our knowledge on the MELJapan scheme. After the tour, MEL
Japan products were presented
and we had the opportunity tohold cooking sessions to haveconsumers get in direct touch with
our local cuisine. Furthermore, wehave developed some recipes using
MEL Japan products in a way tohave children eat them readily, andconducted cooking sessions again.
I am happy to report to you thateasy-to-cook delicious recipes thatcan be prepared at home were
accepted favorably by people ofdifferent generations--from children
to the elderly.
Our attendance at the recent
MEL Japan meeting certainly
provided us, Aomori people, witha chance to consider anew ourapproach to fisheries as consumers
MEL Japan seminar at the Jusan Fisheries Cooperativein this prefecture.