There are few reminders left now of the previous Japanese management. In the meantime, the finger of blame for a five-year run of embarrassing deficits is pointed at low worker productivity. Pressure from international agencies like the World Bank, to invest in development that will deliver higher levels of growth, makes fisheries a logical choice. So does the extraordinarily lucrative sashimi market in Japan. Yet the region still only retains between four and six per cent of the value of reported tuna catches.
Canneries nonetheless offer a seductive package.
They have also secured prestigious market outlets, like John West in Canada and Sainsbury in Britain. Compassion for the dolphin has proved a convenient 'spinner' in the North American market. It needs bait fish. But when they are sleeping the nets come and catch them. Encroachment on traditional fishing grounds also dishonours the ancestral gods.