Fisheries Promotion Group, Higashidoori Village

Issue 5FISHERIES NEWSThe Seaside Flavor of Higashidoori

October-December 2017
Squid Fishing
The author went to see
how squid was fished in thedaytime, and experienced
many activities while onboard.

FishFreshness
Keeping Workshop
A workshop about keeping
the freshness of Japanese
Halibut, Greenling washeld.

FisheryClass

Learning

Fifth grade students from
Higashidori Elementary
School experienced
feeding and tagging of a
rockfish at the Shiriya Port.

Why Should Sea Urchin
Be Exterminated??

Seabreeze dried squid

Squid Fishing Under Day LightA squid is normally fished at night, and the scenes of many fishing boats withbright lights floating on the sea is iconic in fishing scenery in Japan. Night squidfishing is costly because it consumes fuel to run the lighting. Contrarily, daylightsquid fishing developed around Shimokita is cost effective because it does notneed a light source. This time I accompanied squid fishing by a fisherman in
Noushi, and tried a freshness keeping activity for squid using a small device
called “Ika-Kattyaki” which a professor of Hokkaido university invented. At thecrack of dawn, we departed the fishing port for a fishing ground. The captainsearched for a good spot using sonar, and dropped the gears into the ocean.
At the good spots, many squid were caught and brought on the board whilesquirting water. The body color of squid turned transparent immediately after
its nerve was cut by the device. The author also learned from the captain’s
wife how to make a sea breeze dried squid. It was so much fun and he learned
many things. Most of all the author enjoyed being out on the water.

To revive a kelp forest,
fishermen exterminatedsea urchins from an area
where the Isoyake
phenomena is wide-spread.

White Sea Cucumber??
A white sea cucumber wascollected, and appeared onthe television. It is said thata white sea cucumber
brings a good fortune.
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Fisheries Promotion Group, Higashidoori Village

Issue 5

Workshop on freshness keeping 〜To deliver a fresh seafood〜
A workshop on freshness keeping of Japanese Halibut and Japanese Greenling washeld at Shitsukari Port on November 22nd. We learned about the freshness
keeping methods of the 2 fishes from Mr. Y. Miyabe researcher of Shimokita Food
Research Institute. Two methods, “Katsu-zime” which cuts the spine and gills anddrains blood from a live fish and “Shinkei-zime” which breaks the spinal cord of
the fish using a thin wire, are becoming popular recently to preserve freshness.
However the effects of these methods cannot be expected if the methods are notcarried out properly. And “Shinkei-zime” method should not be applied to somecertain fishes because it worsens the freshness. Although various methods areapplied to Japanese Halibut around Japan, two procedures must be followed tomaximize the effects of these 2 methods. First is to handle the fish with care toprevent internal bleeding while processing fish. Second is to drain blood from a live fish in water with optimal temperature(less than 15 ℃) and for the optimal length of time (5-10 minutes). For a greenling, “Shinkei-zime” method has proved toworsen the quality of the meat as same as the meat from the fish was not applied any methods. Freshness of greenling iskept longer when “Katsu-zime” method and draining blood are carried out properly. The workshops will be held monthly
until February, and we learn about Lantern fish, Spear squid and Masu salmon.

Fisheries Class 〜School kids learned Fisheries in Higashidori〜
Fifth grade students at Higashidori Elementary School learned about fisheries
in the village as part of the curriculum of “Higashidori Study” on September
28 at Shiriya Port. Students experienced feeding, tagging and releasing of a
rockfish “Kitsune-mebaru” which has been released for years by Shiriya
Fishery Cooperative. Students heard about types of fishing, amount of fish
landed, and marketing of fishes in Shiriya, and about Funori seaweed. Students
looked at a dried kelp storage and fishing boats with a guidance fromlecturers. Afterward they fed the rockfish, tagged the fish by cutting a rightfin of abdominal fins. Some students said that it was cruel to cut a fin atfirst. But they could cut the fin after they learned about the objective ofreleasing fish with missing fins and about the story which fish with missing
fins tells us. It was their first time to tag a fish by cutting a fin and theystruggled at first. However they learned the tricks of cutting shortly after cutting their first fish fin and tagged many fish
precisely. At the end of the class, students released their tagged fish into the ocean from the port. This fish grows reallyslow and it takes for 5-10 years up to a marketable size. We hope that the tagged fish captured by a fisherman in thefuture. The author received messages from the students later that day. They said. “Feeding and tagging fish was very funand a memorable experience. Thank you very much for teaching us about these.” It was also a nice opportunity for us totell students about what is going on regarding fisheries in the village and give practical experience for biology.

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Fisheries Promotion Group, Higashidoori Village

Issue 5

Sea Urchin Density Control〜Why should we control sea urchin population?〜
I was accompanied by the Shiriya Kelp Forest Conservation Groupto see extermination of sea urchin which are the cause of
Isoyake phenomena. Isoyake is the phenomena of brown algae
such as a kelp disappearing due to environmental changes
causing types of red algae Corallinales to take place andproliferate. This algae prevent brown algae from growing on it.
The red algae also release a chemical component,
Dibromomethane, to accelerate the settlement of larval sea
urchins, and settled sea urchins graze on anything but preferbrown algae. Sea urchins from Isoyake area are never tasty. A
tasty sea urchin is brought out from the ocean where the balance between the density of sea urchin and brownalgae are kept. Therefore the density of a sea urchin should be controlled, and kelp forest should be revived bysuch means as deploying a kelp rope. This time divers picked up many sea urchins one by one. However they were
too many to exterminate. Another method such as deploying traps should be taken into account. Regardless ofintensive grazing by sea urchin, kelp on a rope thrown into the water last year grew big.

Column “White sea cucumber, brings a good fortune?”
One day in October, the author got a call from Odanosawa Fishery Cooperative saying thata white sea cucumber was collected. The author went to see it immediately after the callwith great excitement. And he saw a pure white sea cucumber that was kept in a smallbasket. It was beautiful. The staff at the cooperative told me that a fisherman collected it
because it stood out on the seabed.The sea cucumber caught a TV reporter’s eye and it
appeared on television. The white sea cucumber was taken to Asamushi Aquarium and has
been displayed with a red sea cucumber collected in Noheji. Staff at the aquarium said toplease come and look at the red and white lucky charm and wish for a good fortune. Healso told me that white sea cucumber was found relatively often because sea cucumber in
Aomori is mostly fished by experienced diving fishermen. The author wished on thebeautiful white sea cucumber for a good catch of salmon and squid which has been very
bad this year.

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