Japan’s Hokkaido-based salmon fishing fleet has taken two recent hits: a steep cut to its quota allotment in Russia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and a ban on the use of drift nets. Prices have risen in response.
Salted sockeye salmon prices are up 50 to 60 percent from the same period last year at Tokyo’s Tsukiji market with light supplies, at about JPY 1700 (USD 14.03, EUR 12.71) per kilogram for Hokkaido origin fish and 1,100 for Russian product.
Salted Alaskan sockeye filets sold for JPY 972 per kg (USD 8.02, EUR 7.26) and salted Chile Coho sold for JPY 756 per kg (USD 6.24, EUR 5.65). Frozen sockeye sold for JPY 1,000. At retail, prices are about 20 percent higher at JPY 300 (USD 2.47, EUR 2.24) per 100 grams for sliced half-steaks for grilling.
Negotiations with Russia ended mid-June with an agreement to slash Japan’s quota for salmon catches in Russia’s Pacific EEZ this year by 70.4 percent to just 1,962 metric tons (MT): 1,310 MT of chum salmon, 503 MT of sockeye, 103 MT of pink, 41 MT of Coho and 5 MT of Chinook. In terms of value, the sockeye are the most significant.
The number of Japanese fishing boats allowed to operate in Russia’s Far East was also cut from 38 to 19. Due to delays in concluding negotiations, as well as anticipation that the quota would be cut, 19 midsize boats that operated in the area last year abandoned fishing there this year while the talks were under way. Only small boats now plan to operate this year.
Additionally, on 29 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill to ban drift-net fishing in the EEZ. Japan’s Fisheries Agency reports that Japan’s catches using drift nets in Russian waters totaled 6,400 MT last year. While this is only about 2 percent of Japan’s annual 400,000 MT consumption of salmon and trout (including imported product), the impact on the Hokkaido fishing economy will be significant. The city of Nemuro, in eastern Hokkaido, estimates that the Russian ban on drift-net fishing would result in economic losses of about JPY 25.1 billion (USD 207.1 million, EUR 187.4 million) to fishermen and related sectors, such as seafood processing and transportation. The law would take effect from the start of 2016.
There has been speculation that the timing was tied to Japanese sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, however, the bill was actually the result of a long lobbying campaign by the Russian branch of the World Wildlife Fund. There is a worldwide trend of banning drift nets, which have a high rate of bycatch including marine birds and mammals.
