The autumn salmon fishing season in Japan is drawing to a close and local reports reckon it will prove to be one of the lowest harvests in 30 years, which is the underlying reason for an escalating wholesale price trend.
Salmon is a traditional year-end gift in Japan and features in New Year’s Day osechi dishes. However, The Japan News reported that in mid-November aramakizake lighted salted salmon was being sold in specialist Tokyo stores for around JPY 10,000 (USD 89.23, EUR 83.75) per fish, while the price of autumn salmon at the Tsukiji wholesale fish market was 150 percent higher than a year ago.
A survey conducted by the Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute, a Japan Fisheries and Education Agency unit, found the catch of autumn salmon totaled 23.2 million fish nationwide by the end of October, a decrease of 30 percent year-on-year.
Poor catches were reported in the main salmon fishing waters off Hokkaido, as well as off Honshu’s Sanriku and Sea of Japan coastlines.
The fishing season will continue until the end of the year as the salmon move southward, but the catch is unlikely to see any considerable increase in that time. As such, this fiscal year’s overall volume is forecast to reach just one-third of the 1996 peak year of almost 88.8 million salmon.
Salmon roe is also in short supply in the market. In October, the roe shipments received by Tsukiji market decreased by 15 percent year-on-year, while its average wholesale price stood at JPY 5,392 (USD 48.11, EUR 45.16) per kg, up 18 percent year-on-year.
