[Major fishing grounds of the world and the percentage of catch by sea area] Others 0.2%

## (Characteristics of Japan’s resource management)

[Number of fish species that constitute an 80% share of the total catch volume]

Source: FAO, Fishstat (Capture production)

Under the complex fishery conditions of Japan, relevant fishers conduct voluntary resource management in addition to public resource management, according to the characteristics of the target fish species and the fishery types.

[Measures for managing/recovering fishery resources]

Measure	Contents	Implementation status
Fishing permit system	○ A fishing permit system targeting major types of fisheries○ Restriction on the number of vessels, gross tonnage, operating period, operating area, fishing gear, etc.	○ Fisheries under minister's permit: 18 types of fisheries (13 designated fisheries [large and medium-scale purse seine fishery, offshore trawl fishery, etc.] and 5 specified fisheries under minister's permit) designated as those that need to be restricted for breeding and protection or fishery adjustment of aquatic animals and plants, and those that should be uniformly restricted by the national government due to the existence of an international arrangement or due to the risk that imposition of different region-specific restrictions could cause a fishery adjustment problem between regions○ Statutory fisheries under prefectural governor's permit: fisheries (medium-scale purse seine fishery, etc.) of which management is basically left to the discretion of the prefectural governor since the management should be conducted according to the circumstances of the region, but the upper limit of the number of vessels, etc. is specified by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from the viewpoint of managing the total allowable effort across prefectures, etc.○ Other fisheries under prefectural governor's permit: fisheries (small-scale purse seine fishery, gill net fishery, etc.) managed by the prefectural governor by establishing prefectural rules according to the circumstances of the region
Total Allowable Catch (TAC) system	○ Targeting fish species that satisfy such requirements as large catch volume and high economic value, and for which there is sufficient scientific information to decide the total allowable catch volume○ The upper limit of the annual catch volume set by the national government	○ The system was introduced in FY1996, and 7 species are designated at present Saury, Alaska pollack, horse mackerel, sardine, common mackerel and spotted mackerel, Japanese common squid, and snow crab
Resource management policies and resource management plan framework (FY2011-)	○ Basically targeting all fishers of all types of fisheries○ Fishers carrying out operations based on a voluntarily created resource management plan, according to the resource management policies formulated by the national or prefectural government	○ The national and 40 prefectural governments have already formulated resource management policies.○ Fishers are implementing resource management measures based on their resource management plans.

## (5) Specific implementation status of resource management in Japan

O Coastal fisheries of shellfish and algae and a large part of inland water fisheries are fisheries under fishery rights granted by the prefectural governor.

O Fisheries operated in overseas waters or the high seas or in the sea areas of multiple prefectures are fisheries under the permit of the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and other types of fisheries for which each prefectural government finds a permit to be necessary are fisheries under the permit of each prefectural governor. Various conditions may be attached to a permit.

When the prefectural governor decides on a fishing ground plan or attaches conditions or limitations to a fishing permit, a Sea-area Fisheries Adjustment Commission consisting of fisher representatives and experts gives an opinion. For management and adjustment of fishery resources across multiple prefectures, the Wide Sea-area Fisheries Adjustment Commission is established within the Fisheries Agency.

Under the Act on Preservation and Control of Living Marine Resources, the national government sets an upper limit on the annual catch volume and implements the total allowable catch (TAC) system for managing resources for the seven species of saury, Alaska pollack, sardine, common mackerel and spotted mackerel, horse mackerel, Japanese common squid and snow crab.

The national government implements resource management by the individual quota (IQ) system for southern bluefin tuna, red snow crab subject to red snow crab fishery in the Sea of Japan and Atlantic bluefin tuna.

## (6) Voluntary resource management and support for fishers who make such efforts

In addition to public regulations, fishers have made voluntary resource management efforts such as suspension of fishing operations, restriction on body length, and restriction of the operation period and area.

In FY2011, a new resource management system was started whereby the national government and each prefectural government formulates resource management policies, and based on those policies, fishers' organizations create resource management plans and implement them.

As of the end of March 2014, 1,694 resource management plans had been formulated nationwide, and various management measures have been implemented according to the actual fishery conditions for a variety of types of fisheries.