The Japanese government is going to great lengths to ensure the safety and quality of Japanese seafood products, following the 11 March earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan. But it wasn’t until this week that Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries actively began publicizing the country’s seafood exports again.
On Tuesday, the ministry organized its first media event since the disaster, using the Asian Seafood Exposition in Hong Kong as its launching pad. The event featured Michael Lam, Hong Kong’s “Young Gourmet,” and renowned Japanese chef Takuya Watanuki, who cooked up an array of Japanese seafood dishes.
Then on Wednesday, three Japanese officials held a conference at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center to explain the lengths to which the Japanese government is going to guarantee the safety and quality of Japanese seafood exports. Hong Kong is the No. 1 destination of Japanese seafood exports, and, in terms of value, it represents nearly one-quarter of the total.
Addressing a crowd of about 50 people were Toru Iwasaki, consul of the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong; Koji Nanbu, deputy director of the ministry’s export promotion division; and Hiromi Isa, director of the fishery products trade office, part of the ministry’s fisheries agency.
Isa, the conference’s featured speaker, explained through a translator that the fisheries agency has coordinated with the relevant prefectural governments to conduct sampling programs in all major fishing ports to measure the level of radioactive substances in fish. Fishing is not allowed in areas where levels of radioactive substances in fish exceed the standards set by the government.
But only a few areas were ever closed to fishing. Currently, in Fukishima prefecture, fishing is not allowed. In Miyagi prefecture, fishing partly resumed in early June. And in Ibaraki prefecture, there’s still no fishing for sandlance, though the trawl fishery has resumed activities.
To export Japanese seafood to Hong Kong, two certifications are required — one on safety levels of radiation and one on sanitary conditions for human consumption. Even still, five prefectures, including Fukishima, Miyagi and Ibaraki, are not allowed to export any food products to Hong Kong, and Isa talked about the need to reach an agreement so exports can resume.
Nevertheless, Japan can now re-focus on its goal of exporting JPY 1 trillion worth of Japanese food and agriculture products, including seafood, by 2017 now the disaster is in the past and Japan’s seafood industry is on the mend, said Nanbu. In 2010, exports of Japanese food and agriculture products totaled JPY 492 billion. Seafood accounts for about 40 percent of the total.
Nanbu said Japan can no longer rely on the domestic seafood market; consumption has stalled, and younger people are eating more beef and less fish. And Japanese seafood is already established in markets like Hong Kong and the United States.
Mainland China, particularly the Shanghai area, represents the biggest growth potential for Japanese seafood exports, assured Isa. The eating behaviors of Chinese and Japanese consumers are somewhat similar, he explained. Among the products Isa pointed to were yellowtail, scallops and bluefin tuna for aquaculture and salmon and saury for wild fisheries.
It seems that the ministry’s effort to market Japanese seafood exports is already paying off, as there’s a lot of local and regional media outlets attending the Asian Seafood Exposition, including CCTV, one of China’s biggest news stations.
