FISHERIES AGENCYMINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES, GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN

2-1, 1-Chome, Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100, Japan TEL:03-3502-8111 EXT:PRESS RELEASE
Japan tells world fisheries organization that consumption of fish by marine
mammals threatens to undermine conservation efforts.
(Rome – February 27, 2003)
Japan’s delegation to the 25th Session of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s(FAO) Committee on Fisheries today urged the Committee to continue its efforts to develop andimplement ecosystem models as a way to improve fisheries management.
Joji Morishita, Deputy Director of the Far Seas Fisheries Division of Japan’s Fisheries Agency
presented preliminary findings from Japan’s whale research program in the North Pacific. He told
reporter afterwards that “failure to account for the huge volume of marine resources consumed bywhales in the ecosystem models being developed for fisheries management threatens to undermine
fisheries conservation efforts” and that “the matter of fish consumption by whales and ecosystemmodeling is the primary focus of Japan’s whale research program in the North Pacific.”
Mr. Morishita said “our efforts to manage fisheries on a sustainable basis as a contribution to world
food security should not be compromised by those who would continue to totally protect abundantand increasing populations of whales for purely political reasons.” “Doing so means a distortion ofpriorities where we would be managing fisheries to feed whales rather than humans” he added.
Mr. Morishita explained that investigations have shown that approximately three to five hundred
million tons of marine food resources are consumed annually by cetaceans, some 3 to 6 times morethan are fished for human consumption. In the waters around Japan catches in certain fisheries are
declining while at the same time sampling has revealed that whales are eating at least 10 of thetarget species of these fisheries including Japanese anchovy, Pacific saury, and walleye Pollock.
Mr. Morishita said “The common perception is that whales just eat plankton or fish of nocommercial value but this is not the case – as has been shown for the North Atlantic, this is directcompetition with fisheries to feed humans.”
The matter of competition between marine mammals and fisheries is now of serious concern fornations dependant of fisheries as well as for international and regional fisheries management
organizations including the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
At its meeting two years ago, the FAO Committee on Fisheries agreed to conduct studies on theinteraction between marine mammals and fisheries. The International Whaling Commission has
also made the study of this a matter of priority and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable
Development held in Johannesburg adopted a Plan that included implementation of ecosystemapproaches to fisheries management.

1Mr. Morishita said, “The IWC’s Scientific Committee has noted that Japan’s whale research
programs are providing valuable information for managing whale stocks but the issue is broader
than that. We are providing valuable information on the feeding habits of whales that will be used
as input to ecosystem models for better managing all of our fisheries resources. This is now aworld-wide agreed objective.”
For additional information contact: in Rome – Mr. Yasuo Iino tel: 3481556495
See also: www.icrwhale.org and the following three pamphlets:-Photographs from Japan’s Whale Research in the Western North Pacific (JARPN II), The
Institute of Cetacean Research, Tokyo.
Japan’s Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic (JARPA), The
Institute of Cetacean Research, Tokyo.
Cetacean and Multi-species Fisheries Management. Fisheries Agency, Government ofJapan and The Institute of Cetacean Research, Tokyo.

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