ISARIBI NO.55

ISSN1346-2512

Japan
Fisheries
Association

NO.55, AUG. 2007
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

FY2007 Fisheries White Paper

Nutritional Advantage of Fish Diet Highlighted
in FY2006 Fisheries White Paper

The Government of Japan approved the fiscal 2006 Promotion of exports of high-quality and tasty JapaneseFisheries White Paper at a cabinet meeting on May sea food
Regarding promotion of seafood exports, the government
22. The paper highlighted, among other things, (1)the importance of a fish diet including nutritional established in 2005 a 5-year plan to double Japan’s exports
characteristics of seafood, and (2) expanding fish demand of farm and seafood products, and in 2006, introduced aworldwide on the recognition that it is beneficial in target to achieve exports in the scale of 1 trillion yen.
As some concrete examples implemented under thismaintaining a healthy life.
On Japan’s position as a leading fish-diet country, the program, the paper drew attention to the activities of thepaper noted that seafood is supporting a healthy diet in fishers in Nagasaki Prefecture, western Japan, who are
Japan, a country having a record of one of the longest life striving to promote exports of small-sized mackerel to China
spans in the world. The nutritional characteristics of seafood as well as fish farmers in Hokkaido who are boosting
are now attracting the world’s attention for their health shipments of scallops to the United States and the European
effects. Currently, seafood accounts for about 40% of Union as well as stepping up exports of pollock to the
Republic of Korea.
Japan’s animal protein supply.
The paper said that seafood, including seaweed, aboundswith important nutritional sources, such as calcium,
Per-capita annual seafood consumption andminerals and vitamins. Notably, docosahexaenoic
averagelife span of major countries (Source: FAO)
acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA),
contained in fish fat, are known to have such effects
as preventing thrombi, enhancing brain growth andimproving visibility. Research and studies on DHA Average life spanand EPA have now been advanced actively, as theircharacteristics are attracting increasing attention
worldwide.
Japan’s efforts to control excessive tuna fishingcapacity
The white paper also stressed the efforts of Japanin restraining the excessive catch of tuna resources,
especially by hosting the first Joint Conference ofthe five Regional Tuna Fisheries Management
Organizations in Kobe, in January this year. The
meeting adopted such actions as countermeasuresagainst illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU)
fishing and strengthening of the controls overfishing capacity. The paper noted the need for Japanto take the leadership in implementing thosedecisions.

Per-capita seafood consumption

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

ISARIBI NO.55

AUG. 2007

JFA President meets with EC
Fisheries Commissioner ontuna and other fisheries issues

MEL Japan
Japan’s first ecolabeling system
to be introduced this yearJ

oe Borg, Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime
Affairs of the European Commission, the executive
branch of the European Union, visited the JFA officeon June 1 to exchange views with President Isao Nakasu
on fisheries issues in general and management of bluefin
tuna in particular.
Borg said he is now actively coping with the task to build
up sustainable fisheries system within the EU, and hopes
to promote dialogue with other countries pursuing a similar
goal.

Borg stated that the EU instituted its common fisheries
policy in 2002 and drastically reduced fishing capacity bysuch means as cutting catch quotas, the establishment ofclosed areas and the improvement of fishing gear.
He expressed the EU’s hope to assist in establishingregional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) inareas where there are no such regulatory bodies.
He also stressed the need to accord RFMOs with therights to control illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU)
fishing activities.
The JFA president fully concurred with these views.
Regarding the tuna issue, Borg drew the attention ofNakasu to the fact that the EU would adopt the Bluefin
Tuna Recovery Plan of the International Commission for
the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) on June 11,
saying that that would be a memorable day for the EU.
Under this plan, bluefin tuna caught in violation of ICCAT
rules will not be allowed to enter the EU market.
On this issue, Nakasu noted that Japan has taken theinitiative to globally introduce the Positive List Scheme fortunas, indicating that Japan has a framework to shut out
illegally-caught tunas from its market.
Touching on the issue of farmed tunas, Nakasu requested
the EC Commissioner to seek ways for importing countries
to refuse entry of tunas in excess of the quota.
Borg highly rated the steps Japan has taken on the tuna
issue and also showed understanding regarding Japan’s
concern over farmed tuna.
The two leaders further exchanged views on such issues
as fisheries subsidies and the issue of Taiwan’s membershipin the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission.

The Japan Fisheries Association announced on July
18 that Japan’s first seafood ecolabeling system,“Marine Eco-Label Japan” (MEL Japan), will be
introduced before the end of this year.
The announcement was made at the 9th Japan
International Seafood & Technology Expo held at theTokyo Big Sight, July 18-20.
Preparations for launching of MEL Japan have beenpromoted by all stakeholders, including organizations
and companies related to seafood production anddistribution, as well as academia and the Japanese
government’s Fisheries Agency.
At the briefing session at the Expo, the JFA, which
will serve as the Secretariat for MEL Japan, explained
about the progress of the preparations to date andfuture plans, including the outline of the Japaneseecolabeling system.

Power of RFMOs should be
strengthened to restrain
depletion of tuna resources
In a recent lecture for the Japan Fisheries Journalists
Association in Tokyo, Masanori Miyahara, Director of theFisheries Agency, analyzed the present state of issues overtuna resources, and called for strengthening thecompetence of regional tuna fisheries management
organizations (RFMOs) to hold in check the depletion oftuna resources worldwide. What follows is a summary of
his remarks at the meeting.
Excess fishing capacity
Demand for tunas is expanding worldwide. In previous
years, Japanese longliners, which had been harvesting tunas
for the sashimi market in Japan, have been decreasing in
number. By contrast, in line with the increase of canned
tuna consumption especially in the United States andEurope, the number of purse-seine fishing vessels saw a
sharp increase. Purse-seiners are now catching not only
skipjack or other tunas but also juvenile bluefin and bigeye
for tuna farming. The number of purse-seiners continues toincrease consistently because of high catch efficiency.
Developing countries vs. advanced countries
Another issue over tuna resources is seen between
advanced and developing countries. As developing
countries face slow production domestically, they aredemanding increased allocations, straightforwardly
opposed to quota cuts. They tend to think that it was the

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AUG. 2007

responsibility of advanced countries to have caused thedecreases in the resources and that developing states havethe rights to develop their own fishing.
Need to reinforce the power of RFMOs
We, at the Fisheries Agency, had been preparing for the
Joint Meeting of Five Regional Tuna Fisheries Management
Organizations, which was realized in Kobe in January thisyear. Regrettably, we could not restrain the future increasein fishing capacity, but we do hope that the meeting will be
evaluated in that it determined the process for effective
management in the future. Especially, the agreement on

obliging observers to get onboard tuna transport vessels
was a tangible step forward. This would prevent illegal
catches and tuna laundering.
I believe reinforcing the power of the five RFMOs to
restrain the egotism of each fishing nation will lead to afundamental solution of the issues surrounding tuna
resources.
In this sense, the holding of the five RMFO meeting itself
was very significant in that each organization came to be
subject to external assessment. I believe we will have somefavorable consequences in the near future.

Japan’s all-out efforts to normalize the IWC
end up fruitless as anti-whaling bloc chose
confrontation
Makoto Ito
Secretary, Japan Whaling AssociationThe 59th Annual Meeting of the International
Whaling Commission (IWC) was held in Anchorage,
Alaska, on May 28-31. Japan sought to realize
collaboration and dialogue in the IWC, but its efforts proved
fruitless, with the meeting ending in continued
confrontation.
At this year’s meeting, Japan pursued normalization of
the IWC and realization of catch quotas for Japan’s coastal
small-type whaling. The Japanese delegation offered the
maximum possible concessions but could not obtain the
expected results.
Toward the end of the meeting, Japan’s alternate
Commissioner, Akira Nakamae, also Deputy Director-Generalof the Fisheries Agency of Japan, stated to the effect that:“We have exhausted all means we could offer. Now wehave to consider all the options to face this situation,
including the possibility of withdrawing from the IWC.” I
believe his remark reflected the limit of patience which all
the members of the Japanese delegation felt in theconference room then.
In what follows, I would like to review the present situationof the IWC.
1. Adoption of the catch quotas foraboriginal subsistence whaling
This year the whaling quotas were to be renewed, andespecially the United States had been highly strung oversecuring the bowhead quota for its Inuit residents. The
U.S. nervousness was in part due to its bitter experience at
the IWC annual meeting in Shimonoseki, Japan, in 2002.
Aboriginal subsistence whaling quotas must be renewed
every five years. Up until 2002, the quotas had been adopted
by consensus (i.e. without voting), with no member States
voicing opposition. However, this was not the case in 2002.
As renewal of an aboriginal subsistence whaling quota

IWC Plenary Meeting at Anchorage
falls under the category of a Schedule amendment to theInternational Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, athree-quarter majority vote is required. However, at the
Shimonoseki meeting, no agreement on the quota wasreached as Japan, Caribbean, African, and other countries
refused to endorse the adoption of the quota on the groundthat “it is unreasonable that aboriginal subsistence whaling
is recognized while quotas are refused for traditional coastal
whaling in Japan.” The United States faced the unexpectedstate of no quota for Alaskan aboriginal subsistence whalingfrom 2003.
Subsequently, the quota was granted finally at a special
meeting held in Cambridge. This year, the United States
apparently took a carefully-thought-out strategy to avoid
the repetition of the acrimonious experience in 2002.
This year Japan did not block the U.S. proposal on thescientific grounds that there is no problem in thesustainability of the stock. As a result, a quota of 280
bowhead whales was updated for the period of five years
from 2008.

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ISARIBI NO.55
2. Unreasonable refusal of Japan’s
proposal for small-type coastal whaling
quota
Japan tabled a proposal for a Schedule amendment toallow a small-type coastal whaling quota of minke whales
with a view to alleviate the hardships facing traditional
whaling communities in Japan, such as Ayukawa and Taiji.
However, no agreement was reached as anti-whaling
countries insisted that “such a quota should not berecognized while the commercial whaling moratorium is ineffect.” As a result, Japan voluntarily withdrew its Schedule
amendment proposal.
Furthermore, Japan developed a draft resolution callingfor discussion on provisional measures to alleviate thehardships in Japan’s small-type coastal whaling
communities, by recognizing their socioeconomic andcultural needs, but could not achieve agreement on this
proposal, also resulting in Japan’s withdrawal of the
proposal.
In submitting a Schedule amendment proposal for a smalltype coastal whaling quota, Japan incorporated all the
points of demand from anti-whaling countries forcompletion of the Revised Management Scheme (RMS).
For example, Japan attempted to reduce pressure on thestock in the entire northwestern Pacific by subtracting thecoastal whaling quota from the current research quota in
the area. It also pledged to limit the consumption of caught
whales only to the region where the catch occurs. Also it
decided to have observers onboard all the whaling vessels
and require notification of vessel position.
In spite of every effort Japan has made to compromisewith the anti-whaling group, the IWC rejected all of Japan’s
proposals. In light of this fact, the remarks of Mr. Nakamae
introduced at the outset of this article were totallyreasonable.
3. Deb ate sur r ounding commer cialcharacteristics
The United States says that one of the reasons for
opposing Japan’s request for a coastal whaling quota lies
in its commercial characteristics. Then what about thewhaling by the Inuit which the U.S. government approves?
In shops around the IWC conference venue in Anchorage,
we could see artifacts made of whale bones and baleen
being sold — some expensive ones fetching as high asover $2,000. This merchandise does have commercial
characteristics. There is nothing wrong in commerciality
itself. It is quite natural that commercial characteristics
arise out of human livelihood.
What is important, I believe, is not whether there arecommercial characteristics but whether the resources are
kept in sound conditions. The number of coastal minke
whales Japan is proposing to take and the number ofbowhead harvested by Alaskan aborigines both accountfor less than 1% of their population size.
But the bowhead stock is by far smaller in number thanthe minke whale. It is not reasonable at all that a catch of

AUG. 2007
bowhead is admitted while the catch of minke whales isrefused.
4. IWC should respect the original objectiveof the Convention: promotion of orderly
whaling
It is quite common that countries interested in the harvestof certain marine species, such as tunas and groundfish,come together in international organizations to examine theoptimum level of stock management. But that is not thecase for the IWC. The abnormal aspect of the IWC is thatcountries professing that not even a single whale should
be caught regardless the condition of the stocks havebecome members and their assertion virtually dominates
the IWC. Anti-whaling countries insist that “there are only
three categories of whaling in the IWC: commercial, research
and aboriginal subsistence whaling. To recognize coastal
whaling in Japan means to recognize a new category.”
However, Caribbean countries that support sustainablewhaling, as Japan does, argue that “even in aboriginalsubsistence whaling, depleted stocks could be exposed toa danger of extinction by harvests. There are only two typesof whaling: sustainable or non-sustainable.” I find thisargument is quite reasonable.
5. Will the international society succumb toviolence?
There was one positive outcome for us from the IWC
annual meeting this year. The film of malicious harassmentof Japan’s whale research catch fleet by the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society, a radical environmental group, in the
Antarctic last February, was made public at the IWC
conference hall. All the countries, including anti-whaling
countries such as Australia and New Zealand, recognized
the malignant nature of violent harassment. This led to theadoption of a resolution by consensus, condemning suchobstructive activities and calling on member States to takeresponsible actions.
While the adoption of this resolution gave an encouraging
sign, Sea Shepherd is declaring that it will engage in similar
harassment next season as well. I believe steps should betaken to protect legal activities of the research fleet (dulyrecognized under the provisions of the Convention) fromsuch a fanatic organization and ensure the effectiveness of
the resolution. To that end, all the countries concerned,
including flag States and port States, should implement thisresolution. Unless the harassment is terminated, theinternational society will prove that it is succumbing toviolence.
As stated in the foregoing, we renewed our recognition
that it is not an easy task to normalize the IWC. But weshould not become overly pessimistic. The number of thecountries supporting sustainable whaling has steadily
increased to 36 from a handful of members in 1982, when
the commercial whaling moratorium was adopted. I believethat the path will surely be open some day if we continue
our reasonable efforts even in the midst of adversity.

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