FISHING: East Asian Nations Seek Big Catch

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, May 19 1996 (IPS) - The fishing nations of East Asia are sizing up the catch to be won by ratifying the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea which establishes a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zones from the shores of signatory countries.

In January, South Korea’s parliament ratified the U.N. convention, last week China did the same, and in June the Japanese Diet is expected to follow suit in what is seen by analysts as attempts by the three to legitimise their claims on disputed waters in the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan.

The convention recognises the authority of signatory nations to exert exclusive jurisdiction over fisheries and mineral resources that lie within 200 miles from their shores.

In the present case, this creates a scenario of overlapping claims in waters believed to be rich in mineral resources, and from a fishing point of view, vital to the respective economies and to maintaining a steady supply of the big consumer nations.

Japan’s vice-minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Hiroshi Ueno, said last week that he hoped ratification of the convention would pave the way for negotiations, rather than exacerbate disputes over territorial claims.

Chinese ratification should “enable us to get down to talks with them in earnest”, Ueno told reporters in Tokyo last Thursday, one day after the National People’s Congress of China, decided to ratify the maritime convention.

In the past, China has however not shown any willingness to compromise on its territorial claims which have actually extended with the ratification of the treaty from 370,000 sq kms from its shorelines, to three million sq kms.

Beijing for example, remains locked in dispute with South-east Asian nations over the Spratly Islands — a set of 200 islets and reefs that are said to sit atop vast but as yet unproven reserves of oil gas.

The other claimants to the Spratlys, which also straddle vital sealanes used for transporting fuel and goods in the South China Sea, include Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan.

In the case of the East China and Sea of Japan, up to now the main bone of contention has been over fishing rights — with Seoul and Tokyo often at loggerheads over claimed violations by fishermen from the two countries.

Tokyo reports that more than 1,000 South Korean fishing vessels committed fishing violations in Japanese waters in 1993.

The main area of contention is the group of rocky islets in the Sea of Japan known as Takeshima by Tokyo and Tokdo by Seoul. The waters around the islands are fertile fishing ground for both countries.

The issue is coming to a head because of dwindling fish catches, which according to Japanese environmentalist Naoko Kakuta, is due mainly to over fishing.

Japan’s annual fishing haul has decreased by 33 per cent in recent years to eight million tons in 1994. Its harvest of coastal sardine, for example, after a high of 4.5 million tons in 1989, dropped to one million tons in 1994.

Consequently both countries have in recent years been forced to resort to major fish imports to satisfy domestic consumer demand.

South Korea imported around four million tons of marine products in 1994 — up from less than two million in 1970.

In a 1995 White Paper on fisheries adopted by Tokyo in April, the Japanese government blamed China and South Korea for the depletion of fish stocks and called for mechanisms to be put in place to limit the size of trawler catches.

A new control system based on provisions in the U.N. law must be put in place to maintain stable and sustainable use of the seas’ resources, says the White Paper.

Official documents show that Japan’s the self-sufficiency rate in edible fish supply fell to 61 per cent in 1994, from 64 per cent in 1993. At the same time fish accounted for 39 per cent — of animal protein intake for the Japanese population.

Of a total of 1.5 million tons of tuna caught worldwide in 1992, Japan’s share was about 350,000 tons, bringing in some 770 million dollars from exports a year. Japan fears not only losing its market share, but worst, having to import tuna.

A spokesman for the Japan Maritime Research Organisation (JMRO), says that unless Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul work out an agreement soon, possibly based on a quota system, all three countries would pay a high price in the future.

“There is no other way to survive,” said the JMRO spokesman. “South Korea and China are now aggressive fishing industries. Japan must contend with their competition now.”

Already, the Japanese fishing industry is under siege, he said, quoting statistics which show that in 1994, there were 167,000 fishing management units in Japan and 313,000 fishermen — down 2.4 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively from 1993.

He linked this drop to dwindling catches which made it particularly difficult for small-scale fishermen to survive in the trade.