Japan’s fishery reform law strengthens catch limits, weakens cooperative control

On 8 December, the Japanese Diet and the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe enacted a major reform of the country’s Basic Fisheries Law.  The “Outline of draft legislation," posted on the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry website, sets out the goals of the reform, with a key reform being that resource management will be based on stock assessments …