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ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: Eels Off Menus

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Jun 11 2007 (IPS) - A revered tradition during Japan’s hot and humid summer is eating broiled eel, a dish believed to induce energy. But this year, the item has been elusive on menus following a decision by the European Union to slash eel exports

Facing stock depletion, Europe is considering a move to have the trade in eels restricted under the Washington Convention that protects endangered species in the world.

European exports, mostly juvenile eel caught off the coasts of France and Spain and then dispatched to countries such as China for cultivation, account for between 50 to 70 percent of Japanese consumption, now around 100,000 tons per year.

The Japanese press, quoting data from Europe, says recent annual catches have been less than 200 tons. Some estimates indicate that stocks have fallen to about one percent of those available in the 1970s.

Catches in Japan, despite its eel eating tradition, constitute only about 20 percent of domestic consumption. Catches of young eels in Japanese waters have plunged to around 20 to 30 tons -about one-tenth the figure in the 1970s mostly due to coastal destruction.

Yoko Tomiyama, spokeswoman for the Consumer Union of Japan, points out that the eel crisis, the newest in a series of blows to Japanese traditional cuisine that includes the high-profile slump in blue-fin tuna for sushi, has brought home a stark message that must be acknowledged and tackled quickly. ‘’The threat to eels this summer symbolises a crisis we had chosen to ignore but cannot any longer. It shows, very cruelly, that the Japanese are steadily losing their food supply and also that money cannot buy everything,” she told IPS.

Tomiyama, who spearheads a consumer movement based on caring for the environment, safe food and boosting local agriculture output, explains that the Japanese consumer has been led to believe their rich purchasing power gives them access to anything.

But as cherished food items begin to disappear, says Tomiyama, people are waking up to the reality that the government must develop policies that balance both corporate purchasing power and respect for conservation.

Indeed, the ongoing whaling dispute, that has pitched Japan against anti-whaling countries, is a case in point say conservationists.

Japan is angry that its proposal for a review of the whaling ban at the CITES ( the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) at the Hague, last week, was turned down.

‘’Anti-whalers are totally illogical because they put environmental protection above everything else,” Hideaki Okada, an official at the whaling section at the ministry of fisheries explained to IPS.

He rejected claims that the whaling proposal was an attempt to reopen commercial trade of whale products. ‘’Japan wants a review to find out which species should be put on the endangered list and what types can be harvested. Our proposal is to develop a trade that is based on the sustainable use of resources, not just blanket protection,” he said.

The defeat at the Hague has led Tokyo to threaten to leave the International Whaling Commission. Japan has also embarked on a campaign to promote the sale of whale meat in the country, terming it traditional and culturally rooted.

Conservationists think otherwise. Prof. Hideo Obara, a respected biologist, says the official stance is dangerous as it resorts to nationalism to defend practices that are based on the belief that technology and economic strength are an answer to food issues.

‘’For example, Japan’s scientific whaling is allowed on the assumption that killing whales is necessary to collect accurate data on the species. This works against the policy that endangered populations can only be resurrected by just stopping harvesting,” he explained.

Under scientific whaling, 360 minke whales are caught annually in the Sea of Japan and the North Pacific.

Obara adds that Japan is not the only guilty nation and other Asian countries, such as China and South Korea, are also following similar policies leading to over fishing in the Pacific Ocean.

Sophisticated fishing technology and trawler boats showcasing Japanese advancement has led to marine destruction, say conservationists.

Experts also point out that developing sophisticated fish farms, now heavily subsidised by local governments, are not easy.

For example, a fisheries research centre in collaboration with Kinki University in Wakayma prefecture, west Japan, has spent millions of dollars on an advanced breeding programme, first launched in 1970, to boost the endangered blue-fin tuna.

Last year, the tuna bore eggs for the first time but commercial production is expected to take much longer.

Says Tomiyama, ‘’Japan’s food culture should be protected not by officials pushing new technology or a call to nationalism. Rather, modern culture and tradition must include education and the deeper values of preserving our environment,” she said.