Coastal fishermen in most of Japan’s prefectures have been unable to reach their total allowable catch (TAC) for adult Pacific bluefin tuna, as they have been wary of exceeding the separate limit for juveniles, defined as under 30 kilograms.
For the current season, which runs from July of 2018 to March 2019, the nationwide catch of juveniles reached 651 metric tons (MT) by 21 January, out of a TAC of 1,528.7 (MT). The catch of adult tuna was 480.4 MT, out of a TAC of 1,125.2 MT.
Each prefecture is allotted a quota partially based on past catches. The Japan Times reported that only one prefecture, Chiba, has exceeded its TAC for juveniles, landing 39.4 MT against a TAC of 36.3 MT.
Japan started to set a TAC for each prefecture in 2016 for bluefin tuna weighing less than 30 kilograms, but the limits were surpassed two years in a row. Nets set for mackerel took large numbers of tuna as bycatch. As a practical matter, it is difficult to prevent juvenile bycatch unless fishing for tuna and mackerel is halted altogether. This year, the Fishery Agency will punish those who exceed the quota. It has also set prefectural catch limits for adult bluefin tuna. Japanese television news programs have shown how new net designs with escapement gaps for tuna are being adopted, but these also release some of the target fish.
Japanese fishermen are used to working under a total allowable effort (TAE) system, which regulates seasons and gear rather than a TAC system. There is currently no system to allow unused quota in one prefecture to be shifted to other prefectures, and if the national TAC is exceeded due to overfishing in one prefecture, the season can be closed early in all prefectures, as happened last year.
At Tokyo’s Toyosu Market at the end of January, the average price of frozen domestic bluefin was JPY 3,107 (USD 28.35, EUR 24.83) per kilogram, down from JPY 3,954 (USD 36.07, EUR 31.58) in mid-December, prior to the New Year holiday. Imported product was JPY 2,180 (USD 19.89, EUR 17.42).
Frozen bigeye tuna averaged JPY 1,885 (USD 17.20, EUR 15.06) for domestic and JPY 1,000 (USD 9.13, EUR 7.99) for imported. Yellowfin (albacore) tuna averaged JPY 1,650 (USD 15.06, EUR 13.19).
Photo courtesy of WWF
