Japan’s “Doyo no Ushi” or “Midsummer Day of the Ox,” falls on two dates this year – 20 July and 1 August. Though this ought to mean more sales of eel, a poor catch of glass eels in Japan means that eel farmers have fewer to offer.
The glass eel harvest in Japan has fallen by 29 percent from the previous year, to 14 metric tons. According to an interview survey conducted by the Union of Eel Farmers Cooperatives of Japan in March, the wholesale price for standard sized (200 gram) adult eels was a record JPY 5,300 (USD 47, EUR 40) per kilogram.
Many eel farmers are trying to exceed this size, feeding their eels longer as a means to raise the weight to 350 grams to make the most use of the high-priced elvers. These farmers, however, must convince Japanese buyers and consumers to accept their larger eels, as they have bigger, tougher bones. Japanese television has been showing eel farmers feeding soybean-based feeds to their elvers, and also keeping eels in extensive muddy tanks where they can burrow, which is said to lower their stress. Both techniques allegedly help soften eel bones, though there is little scientific evidence to back this.
This is the same difficulty that has stymied the efforts of an exporter of wild Tasmanian eels from expanding his market in Japan, despite good availability and stock management practices there.
Bradley Finlayson is General Manager of Tasmanian Eel Exporters, a family business that has been catching eels in the wild for 65 years. He constructed a grow-out facility in Bagdad, on the outskirts of Hobart, Tasmania, in order to fatten wild-caught eels to increase their weight and also to extend availability into the winter.
“The whole concept was to harvest eels from the wild and to meet increase in market demand, but since construction we are unable to sell to Japan. Tasmania supplies about 200 kg per fortnight into Japan and nothing more. We built a 100 ton RAS [recirculation aquaculture system] in 2016 to grow more product as the world was looking for more, and yet two years later we are closing it down because the world isn’t buying farmed eels from Australia, which is very disappointing after spending [AUD] 2.5 million from a family business,” he said.
Finlayson said that Japanese buyers believed the eels, Anguilla Australis, had a double skin because they reach marketable weight at an older age than their farmed counterparts. A farmed eel can reach 300 grams in six months, while wild eels from Tasmania might live until four years old before they weigh that much.
Additionally, the Tasmanian company is having troubles in South Korea, according to Finlayson.
“We recently have had an issue with South Korea finding a trace of ‘Isoeugenol’ in our product, which is from AQUI-S when used to slow the eel down, and yet the Korean customs doesn’t allow it now and is now threating to burn our product. We have had major problems in recent weeks in South Korea with the Koreans changing the rules [from 1 July, 2018] but not giving the importers, exporters or even AQUI-S information of the changes,” he said.
Finlayson said he has spoken with the Australian authorities, but no one knows what has happened or is able to give any answers.
South Korea reduced the allowable limit of isoeugenol from AQUi-S to 0.01 mg. AQUI-S has been used in exporting eels all over the world, and has been used by Finlayson’s business for the past 20 years. However, Tasmanian Eel Exporters’ consignment that arrived on 6 July was destroyed by the Korean government for having a trace of the chemical isoeugenol, which was clearly shown in Finlayson’s exporting documents.
“AQUI-S didn’t even know there was a problem with this in Korea which is saying something,” he said.
Yoshio Sato, Sales Manager for Blue Link, a company dealing in live wild eels from Tasmania that purchases from Tasmanian Eel Exporters, said that his company does not buy eels fattened in captivity, though the eels are held for a time for purging both in the Tasmania and later in Japan. The company sells to wholesale markets, not directly to shops or restaurants.
Sato said he has not had a problem with the skins, and that the eel skins were actually tenderer than he thought they would be. He is pleased with the short-finned eel, as they are large with a lot of fat.
Air shipping live eels is not cheap and seems to be a niche trade, leaving Finlayson looking for additional markets. Tasmanian Eel Exporters sells direct-to-business in the states of New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia, with a little sold and consumed in Tasmania.
“In Australia we have started cooking our eels on BBQs at festivals and people love it, but [they are] not likely to go to a supermarket and buy it compared to salmon,” Finlayson said.
Looking ahead, Finlayson’s sister is starting another seafood processing business to assist Tasmanian Eel Exporters in product development and marketing of eels internationally next year as value-added products.
At a time when the world is decrying the declining stocks of many eel species, Tasmania has some of the best practices in the sector in the world, with a well-run restocking program and regular relocation of elvers around dams and into farm reservoirs, Finlayson. Tasmania sells between 60-70 metric tons per year, but is only utilizing seven percent of the current stock available to the industry, he added.
