ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: Tokyo Defends Tuna-Fishing Policies

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Sep 3 1999 (IPS) - Japan is again at centre stage in an international uproar over the fishing of the endangered southern bluefin tuna, but says it is committed to its “sustainable harvesting”.

It defended its policies on fishing of tuna in the wake of the Aug 27 ruling by an international maritime court in Germany that ordered Tokyo to stop its “experimental fishing” of southern bluefish tuna, a much-valued delicacy in the Japanese diet.

The decision by the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea came after Australia and New Zealand, the two other countries that with Japan belong to the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna, demanded a halt to Japan’s practice.

Japan has been fighting for an increase in its quota of 6065 tonnes of bluefin tuna caught per year for experimental purposes allowed since 1993.

Under current rules, Australia and New Zealand also have been allocated quotas which are between around 1,000 tonnes less for the former and 420 tonnes for New Zealand.

But Japan stands accused of exceeding its allowance last year, and catching an extra 1,464 tonnes all of which end up at Japanese fish markets.

The fishing continued this year despite the latest ruling and, according to the Japanese Fisheries Agency, is expected to yield around 2,000 tonnes above Japan’s quota. The Hamburg tribunal also ruled that Tokyo’s catch under “experimental fishing” be apart of its existing quota.

Japan is also expected to keep arguing for the continuation of research fishing in a bid to keep up its catches.

The fishing is mostly centered in international waters around Australia and New Zealand, and is part of a three-year program put forward by Tokyo that officials that will manage harvesting.

“It is regrettable that Japan’s views were not fully understood,” Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said in a statement released after the international decision.

Japan created a dispute when it claimed that tuna stocks had rebounded, entitling it an expansion of its quota. The other two countries opposed the move, and critics said Tokyo was merely finding a way to get around restrictions and catch more tuna.

Japan is the biggest market for bluefin tuna and imports one- third of the world’s tuna catch. It imports 300,000 tonnes of tuna each year, including the bluefin variety, and catches 350,000 tonnes each year.

Conservationists say that apart from Japan’s own catch, almost all bluefin tuna caught around the world is exported to Japan. After all, it pays handsomely — almost 20 times more than other countries — for the delicacy.

The rare tuna comprises only 3 percent of the domestic tuna market, because its stocks have been depleted so much. The fish is sold mainly for sashimi or raw fish.

A couple of slivers of the tuna costs around 30 U.S. dollars at a restaurant. Greenpeace says one kilogramme of bluefin tuna is worth up to 100 dollars.

Latest data show that the stocks of the endangered bluefin tuna are now between 3.5 and 4 million in the southern waters, down from the 8 million set a decade ago.

Shigeru Komori of the World Wild Life Fund explains that the bluefin crisis represents a struggle between national interests — with Japan fighting desperately to save its dwindling tuna fishing industry — and Australia and New Zealand eager to boost their pro- conservation image and protect their own tuna industries as well.

Japan used to catch much more bluefin tuna, reaching more than 23,000 tonnes a year many years ago. But the strict quota system has also forced more than 132 long-liners to close business — 20 percent of the total number of tuna fishers.

Despite its less than ideal image overseas on environment issues, where it has also gotten flak for whale capture, Japanese officials and some analysts say Tokyo is not unaware of the need to brush up on its green record.

In fact, officials in charge of tuna fishing at the fisheries agency concede that “Japan wants to show the world that it is a responsible partner in the international community”.

Rather than fight a losing battle, Japan is now calling for the establishment of a system where all countries involved in bluefin tuna fishing cooperate instead on setting a shared quota.

“This is the only way we can keep the tuna industry from falling apart,” explained Hisashi Endo of the Fisheries Agency.

He also pointed out that Japan is keen to get countries not in the commission to observe quotas as well. At present, countries that are not members, like Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan, are not bound by quota restrictions.

These countries catch around 5,000 tonnes of bluefin tuna annually, most of which are exported to Japan.

By including these countries, Japan hopes to achieve sustainable harvesting of the endangered species, says Endo.

Komura agrees that including these countries could be the best solution to the current crisis. “With the current free-market system it is difficult for Japan to control the tuna market by asking private companies not to buy tuna,” he explained. “That is more the reason why there should be an official way of controlling the industry.”

At home conservationists say efforts ought to be made to rein in Japan’s appetite for expensive delicacies, which is causing not just negative effects on the environment but friction with other countries.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is now considering a new fisheries law to preserve marine resources around Japan.

Meantime, observers expect prices of bluefin tuna in Japan to soar as a result of the August court ruling. A domestic catch of 500 tonnes in June was estimated to have brought in 1 billion yen (9.17 million dollars) in wholesale sales.