Japan’s legislature approved the administration’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2022 on 22 February, and with it, approved a series of fisheries-related expenses.
Japan’s Fisheries Agency recently posted on its website an outline of the estimated expenses, which paint a picture of the issues facing the industry and the current government’s priorities. The budget encourages a push for expanded stock assessments, increased uses of technology, and more.
A major component of the budget is expanding Japan’s stock assessments, as the number of species managed by the total allowable catch (TAC) system has been increased under the amended Fisheries Act that took effect from December 2020.
Previously, Japan managed most species with a total allowable effort (TAE) system, which regulates the catch by season and gear-type restrictions, and had only set a TAC for saury, Alaska pollock, sardines, mackerel, Southern mackerel, horse mackerel, squid, snow crab, and juvenile bluefin tuna. Under the new law, TAC management will be expanded to about 200 species, but the quotas for these are mostly based on previous catch data, as many have not yet been assessed.
To improve its data-collection efforts, Japan will fund the employment of research vessels and the use of fishing vessels, in cooperation with fishermen, to conduct more stock assessment surveys. A new fisheries research vessel will also be commissioned.
The shift to TAC has resulted in a change in catch reporting, so the government will promote computerization of landing data at 400 local markets and at fishermen's cooperatives. As part of the shift to TAC, individual vessel quotas will be assigned and tracked electronically.
In some cases, fishermen will be asked to refrain from fishing in order to rebuild stocks. A subsidy system and reserve pool to support them will be implemented. Also, funding has been made available to develop technologies to help avoid catching certain species. In Japan’s mixed fisheries, one species can become a “choke” species, that is, a species for which the TAC has been reached, but which is often caught with other species, halting the entire fishery. As a result, the government is pushing to create new techniques to prevent fishery closures from choke species.
The government also offers subsidy programs that kick in when fuel prices for fishing vessels and aquafeed prices for fish farmers surpass certain levels. Current skyrocketing oil prices as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine means such a system is very likely to be come into use this year.
Japan will also provide funding to entice new entrants into fishing, in response to a trend of declining revenue from fishing and the related decline of new entrants to the industry and loss of vitality of fishing villages. Japan plans to secure and develop human resources to support fisheries and fishing villages by providing funds to young people before they start working, and providing long-term training in the fishery field. It will also work to retain and improve the management skills of fishermen, including in resource management and utilization of information and communication technology (ICT), as there is concern whether Japan's aging fisheries workforce can adapt to the new management system, especially as regards electronic reporting.
Part of the retention plan also falls under the “hama" (beach) plan. To increase the income of the fishing sector, the government has developed the plan to encourage development of renewable energy facilities and reduce the fuel consumption of fishing vessels. It also has measures to prevent poaching, and is introducing a system of vessel-leasing to ease the burden of entering the fishery.
The government will also support the introduction of high-performance fishing vessels, along with the promotion of multi-purpose vessels with the ability to switch target species to respond to poor fishing conditions.
The government also plans to provide funding to assess and improve the return rate of salmon.
And it plans to support a demonstration project trialing a large-scale offshore aquaculture system.
Photo courtesy of Dane Gillet/Shutterstock
