Japan’s Fisheries Agency released a report on 28 May showing that seafood production in 2020, including that from aquaculture, declined by 21,000 metric tons (MT), or 0.5 percent, from the previous year to 4.175 million MT. The drop was small, but it marks a new low, following that of 2019.
Landings from capture fisheries declined by 71,700 MT, or 2.2 percent, to 3,156,500 MT, in 2020. Catches of sardines, Japan’s biggest fishery by volume, were 700,500 MT, an increase of 144,100 MT (25.9 percent) from the previous year due to bigger hauls in Shimane and Miyazaki prefectures. The catch total for mackerel, the country’s second-largest fishery, was 376,600 MT, a decrease of 73,800 MT (16.4 percent) from the previous year, primarily due to lower catches in Mie and Nagasaki prefectures. Catches of scallops, the third-biggest fishery, increased 6,600 MT (1.9 percent) to 346,000 MT, due to an increase in Hokkaido’s intake. Skipjack catches sunk to 162,500 MT, a decrease of 66,400 MT (29 percent) from the previous year, due to a decrease catches in in Miyagi and Shizuoka prefectures. The walleye pollock catch was 160,100 MT, an increase of 6,100 MT (4 percent) from the previous year, due primarily to Hokkaido bringing in more fish than the year prior.
Conversely, marine aquaculture volumes, including that of shellfish and seaweed, rose by 51,800 MT, or 5.7 percent, to 967,000 MT. Harvests of yellowtail were 137,100 MT, which increased by 700 MT (0.5 percent) from the previous year due to an increase in Tokushima prefecture. That of sea bream was 62,400 MT, an increase of 100 MT (0.2 percent) from the previous year due to increases in Kumamoto prefecture and other areas. The harvest of oysters was 158,900 MT, a decrease of 2,700 MT (1.7 percent), due to a drop in production in Miyagi and Hiroshima prefectures. The harvest of scallops was 151,000 MT, an increase of 6,500 MT (4.5 percent) due to an increase in Hokkaido.
Seaweed aquaculture harvests totaled 396,800 MT, an increase of 50,400 MT (14.5 percent) from the previous year. The harvest of nori seaweed was 288,700 MT, which increased by 37,300 MT (14.8 percent) from the previous year, mainly in Hyogo and Saga prefectures. The harvest of wakame seaweed was 53,200 MT, an increased of 8,100 MT (18 percent) mainly Iwate and Miyagi prefectures.
Inland production figures, which combine the production of inland fisheries and aquaculture (land-based and freshwater) decreased by 1,935 MT, or 3.7 percent, to 50,940 MT from the previous year due to a decrease in freshwater clams. The capture harvest of salmon and trout was 7,458 MT, an increase of 793 MT (11.9 percent), and that of sweetfish was 2,099 MT, an increase of 46 MT (2.2 percent) from the previous year.
Inland aquaculture harvests totaled 29,181 MT, a decrease of 1,927 MT (6.2 percent). The eel harvest fell by 184 MT (1.1 percent) to 16,887 MT. Farmed trout was 5,897 MT, a decrease of 1,183 MT (16.7 percent) from the previous year. Farmed Sweetfish was 4,044 MT, a decrease of 45 MT (1.1 percent) from the previous year. Carp was 2,247 MT, a decrease of 494 MT (18.0 percent) from the previous year.
Comparable data began to be kept in 1956. The trend of landings then grew rapidly until the 1970’s, when the extension of countries’ exclusive economic zones to 200 nautical miles began to shut out Japanese vessels. Japan responded by fishing where it could, while overfishing sardines in its own waters, and its landings grew at a slower rate until reversing in the 1990s. Since then, despite the positive contributions of aquaculture, its overall harvests have declined, finally erasing all the gains from 1956 forward.
Photo courtesy of Andrey Gudkov/Shutterstock
