Chris Loew

Pumice, spewed into the ocean from a distant underwater volcano has clogged the cooling water intakes of ships and killed farmed fish around the Japanese island of Okinawa. The drifting stones earlier reached southern Kyushu, and have now been spotted farther north, off Shikoku.

On 1 November, Japan's Coast Guard announced its planes had spotted pumice stones at two locations near Shikoku Island’s Kochi Prefecture: 146 kilometers off Cape

Cold-water fish that have been the mainstay for fishers and processors in Japan’s northeast are becoming increasingly scarce as sea-water temperatures in the region rise.

The Pacific coast of Hokkaido and the Sanriku coast – which includes parts of Aomori, Iwate, and Miyagi prefectures – have been affected the worse by rising seawater temperatures, which are keeping schools of cold-water fish further off the coast.

This

The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) has approved a higher catch limit for Pacific bluefin tuna.

Based on IATTC Scientific Committee projections that indicated a 100 percent chance of reaching an initial stock rebuilding target by 2024, the IATTC approved a 15 percent increase in the catch limit for adults (over 30 kilograms) and no change for juveniles. The decision was made at IATTC's full commission meeting, which ran

Beginning 25 October, Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures have removed most restrictions for eating and drinking establishments that have had their anti-COVID-19 measures certified.

In order to meet the requirements to open, restaurants must have implemented measures to address ventilation, prevention of crowding, installation of plastic shields to separate customers at the tables, provision of disinfecting spray, and conduct temperature

Regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) that regulate Pacific bluefin tuna have moved closer to adopting a catch increase, based on an improved outlook for meeting stock recovery goals.

During its 5-7 October electronic meeting, the Northern Committee (NC) of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) approved, by consensus, the recommendation of the sixth Joint IATTC and WCPFC-NC Working Group Meeting on the

NGOs, government agencies, and businesses gathered online to discuss policies, trends, and challenges in sustainable fishery resource use at the Tokyo Seafood Sustainability Summit (TSSS), 10 to 13 October.

The event, previously called the Tokyo Sustainable Seafood Symposium, has taken place annually since 2015. It is sponsored by Seafood Legacy Co. and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. and supported financially by co-sponsors the Walton Family

The Global Seafood Alliance announced on 4 October the Japanese Consumers' Cooperative Union will feature its first Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)-labeled product.

The JCCU is a national federation of consumer cooperatives that supply food and other daily necessities to its members in Japan through supermarkets and home delivery.

GSA is an international, nonprofit trade association that seeks to advance environmentally and socially responsible

Two systems have been launched in Japan that are devoted to informing Japanese consumers about the sustainability of fish they are eating and making it easier for fisheries to apply for sustainability certifications.

Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA) Senior Adviser Yoshioki Oozeki first introduced the development of the two systems – SH "U" N (short for Sustainable, Healthy, “Umai,” Nippon) and MuSESC