Japan’s Fisheries Agency has announced the stock status of Pacific saury at the end of July.
Sampling conducted in June and July using a research vessel found the stock to be 3.4 times that of the previous year. In some areas of the sea, the size of individual fish was more than 29 centimeters. These fish are expected to migrate near Hokkaido from mid-September and northeast Honshu from mid-October.
The catch in 2017 was 85,000 metric tons, the worst in about 50 years. The saury season opened at the start of August but will begin in earnest near the end of the month. In the second half of August, whole saury can usually be found at reasonable prices in retail stores. A medium-sized raw Pacific saury weighs around 130 grams and can usually be found on sale at the peak of the season for JPY 100 (USD 0.90, EUR 0.79) per fish. However, in recent years, the early season has been disappointing resulting in higher early season prices.
Satoshi Suyama – of the Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture – said that Pacific saury migration patterns have changed in recent years in two ways. Schools of saury have been staying north longer because water temperatures have been rising, and they are also staying farther to the east of Japan before approaching the coast, so that fishermen must expend more time and fuel to reach them.
As for the prospects for the stock in future years, he said, “It’s difficult to predict since the lifespan of saury is only two years.”
Japan has recently been urging international agreements to restrict saury catches and assign quotas to counties involved in the fishery. As saury stay north and east of Japan longer, they spend more time outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone, where vessels from China and Taiwan take large numbers. China has opposed any regulation, saying that Japan is too quick to blame foreign vessels for stock reductions. As with other short-lived species like sardines, saury are prone to wide fluctuations in numbers.
