Fisheries Promotion Group, Higashidoori Village

Issue 4FISHERIES NEWSThe Seaside Flavor of Higashidoori

July-September 2017
Scallop, Delicacy of theSea bed
Scallop fishing was active at
Noushi port this summer. Theauthor introduces how thisdelicacy of the sea bed isfished.

Eel, The Mysterious Fish
Fishermen in Sarugamori
conducted annual eel fishing.
The author has released andtagged many eels since 2016
collaborating with an inland
fisheries research institute. Thisfishing was also aimed atrecapturing the tagged eels.

Japanese Halibut,
Aomori’s fish
Baby Japanese Halibut wasreleased at fishing ports in
Higashidoori. The author
introduces the characteristic ofhatchery reared halibut and its
life history.

Sowing culture of scallop ~Harvest~
Scallop fishing in Noushi was active from June to August. I
accompanied the fishing done by a local fisherman and saw how
scallops are fished. Scallop was fished using a dredge net at adesignated plot where the scallop seed was sowed in 2015.
Scallop, which was about 6 cm at release, grow up to around
11cm. Scallop of this year was beautiful without any attachingorganisms such as “Akazaragai” which is also a tasty shellfish. It
seemed that larvae of “Akazaragai” were not abundant aroundthe area where scallop seed was produced in 2015. New scallop
seed will be sowed in this plot next spring.

Haida’s cooking ofmarine resources
The author introduces aninteresting food culture of theHaida Nation which fascinates
him so much. The author talks
about a Herring roe on a kelp
“K’aaw”.

1Fisheries Promotion Group, Higashidoori Village

Issue 4Eel fishing and tagging research ~Mystery of the released eel~
A Fishermens group in Sarugamori carried out annual eel fishing at Onuma and Sakyo-numa. They set longlines

baited with live freshwater prawn, and retrieved the lines the next morning. I accompanied the fishermen as theyattempted to recapture eels with a colored resin tag showing they were released into Onuma in 2016 and 2017.
This tagging program aims to clarify the survival of released eels. A total of 41 and 25 eels were caught atOnuma and Sakyo-numa, respectively. However the tagged eels were not captured this time. It became somysterious because some tagged eels were recaptured in Lake Ogawara. Have the released eels gone somewhere
else? Have they died after the habitat change and competition in the wild? Or was the bait too big for the eel toswallow? A lot of hypotheses popped up in the author’s mind. It is an interesting challenge to determine the fateof released eels. We will continue the tagging program until we clarify the mystery of released eels. Incollaboration with an inland fisheries research station, we have also conducted a survey to confirm a spawningmigration of eels from this September.
After tagging

Injecting a tag

Japanese Halibut fingerlings released ~Aomori’s fish~
Baby Japanese Halibut was released into the Ocean from fishing ports in the village. The baby Japanese Halibut wasraised at a hatchery in Hashikami-town. The length of the fish was about 5 cm, and it seemed to be bigger thanlast year. Hatchery raised flounders used to have had pigmentation on its back side. We called these flounders“Panda”, and therefore it was easy to distinguish these from wild ones. Nowadays we see these flounders once ina while because the culture method has been developed. Flatfishes have an eye on both sides during their pelagic
life stage after hatching. An eye on right or left side moves toward the other side as the days pass during thepelagic life stage. This drastic physical change is called metamorphosis. Flatfishes change their habitat and settle
down on the bottom when the metamorphosis is completed. Settled Japanese Halibut starts eating Mysis, a typeof shrimp selectively and grows bigger and bigger. After 4-5 years, it grows up to 35 cm which is the minimum
legal size, and is fished by fishermen.

Haida’s food culture, traditional utilization of marine resources
Haida Gwaii means the islands of Haida
Nation which is a Coastal First Nation inCanada. The Haida have lived on theislands for a long time, and established aunique culture represented by amagnificent totem pole. The utilization ofthe marine food resources is alsointeresting, and is a topic which
fascinates the author very much. The
author introduces one of his favorite
foods, “K’aaw” (pronounced “Gao”)
which is a herring roe on a kelp. Schools of the Pacific herring migrate to spawnin a Giant kelp forest along shoreline in spring. The kelp, herring lay eggs,“K’aaw” is an important food item for the Haida culture. The Haida eat it in rawor boiled, and preserve it dried or salted. It had been exported to Japan when theherring stock was abundant. Only Haida have been allowed to catch it for
subsistence since the herring stock was depleted by commercial fishing. Haida had crossed Hecate Strait by canoe,and traded seafood such as “K’aaw” with Ooligan a type of smelt grease which tribes on the main land haveproduced. People nowadays use a Ferry but not a canoe. The author heard that the kelp forest was shrinking
recently when he visited last July. However the beautiful landscape was still there, and he realized that this island
was his home. He will migrate back to the island in the near future.
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