Analyzing Japan's Fisheries Revitalization from an International Perspective (Part 1)

Gakushuin University
Faculty of Law, Department of Political Science, Graduate School of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Professor
Isao Sakaguchi

Solving environmental problems is no longer solely the responsibility of governments. When we re-examine Japan's fisheries industry from the perspective of "global governance," in which corporations, NGOs, and even consumers play a leading role, deep-seated structural issues emerge.

Why is resource management lagging behind in Japan, and why is Japan behind internationally? From the historical background of the fisheries system to the realities on the ground, and even the stagnation in certification acquisition, we asked Professor Isao Sakaguchi of Gakushuin University, a specialist in global environmental governance who has researched international environmental policy and fisheries resource management for many years, about the essence and challenges of this issue.

Isao Sakaguchi
Graduated from the University of Tsukuba in 1994. Specializing in global environmental governance and international relations, he obtained his PhD from the University of Tokyo Graduate School in 2004. After serving as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research Fellow and a Visiting Researcher at the Yale University Center for International and Regional Studies, he became a professor in the Faculty of Law at Gakushuin University in 2005. He received the Pew Ocean Fellowship in 2017. His research focuses on global governance theory, as well as global environmental regimes and fisheries resource management.

Structural challenges facing Japan's fisheries industry: The real reasons why resource management is not progressing.

—What exactly is global governance, which is Professor Sakaguchi's area of ​​expertise?

My specialization is political science, specifically international politics and international relations. Traditional international politics focuses on states and international organizations, but global governance considers not only these but also NGOs, corporations, and even consumers as actors in problem-solving.

NGOs, in particular, have often addressed international issues through protest movements, but these movements are frequently short-lived. Furthermore, they often target large corporations, with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rarely being included. However, for global governance to be effective, it is necessary to work together with a wide range of companies to solve problems. Over the past 30 years or so, companies have come to be viewed not merely as "causes of problems," but as "stakeholders who contribute to problem-solving." A characteristic idea of ​​global governance is that NGOs, companies, consumers, and governments work together to solve problems.

—From that perspective, why did you focus particularly on fisheries policy?

I've always been interested in international environmental issues. My undergraduate thesis dealt with the International Whaling Commission's moratorium on commercial whaling, and my doctoral dissertation focused on the conservation of African elephants and the ivory trade in Japan. After that, I worked on analyses of the Convention on Biological Diversity, but since around 2009, I've become interested in international fishery resources, particularly the decline of tuna and skipjack tuna.

We then participated as observers in five fisheries management organizations, including the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), and the Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (IOTC). At that time, the management of Pacific bluefin tuna resources was a major issue, with resources being severely depleted and longline and pole-and-line fishermen throughout Japan facing dire circumstances.

However, Japan has only resisted strengthening resource management, and has become internationally isolated. As resource depletion continues, I began to question the situation in Japan where large purse seine fishing vessels catch Pacific bluefin tuna that gather in the Sea of ​​Japan during the spawning season and sell them at low prices, while small-scale fishermen suffer. I began to think that there must be a problem with the domestic structure, and why such an irrational thing is happening.

Therefore, in recent years, I have been frequently providing consultation to fishermen, aquaculture operators, and distributors throughout Japan. I have served as a member of the Fisheries Reform Committee, which has had a significant impact on the reform of Japan's fisheries industry, since its third term, and I am currently reporting on the challenges and reforms of the domestic fisheries law system in its fourth term. 

Certification acquisition is not progressing. The reality is that monitoring is absent.

—Professor Sakaguchi, you also research certification systems, don't you?

Yes. Intergovernmental mechanisms like international treaties, being based on consensus, take time to establish, and therefore tend to be slow to address problems. As a result, since the end of the Cold War, there has been a trend towards promoting private certification systems internationally and relying on the power of civil society to solve problems.MSC,ASC,BAPThese are some of the main examples. However, these systems have not become widespread in Japan. Even though the number of companies supporting certification systems is increasing on the market side, most of the certified products are imported seafood, and the number of domestic seafood products obtaining certification is not increasing.

The reason is that a robust system for resource management and monitoring has not been properly implemented in Japan. In order to obtain certification, a framework for resource management must be established and data must be collected through monitoring, but in Japan, there are far too many cases where "we don't know the state of the resources because we haven't collected the data." The same situation applies to aquaculture.

—Could you tell us a little more about the current state of resource management in Japan?

For example, the mass die-off of farmed oysters that occurred in Hiroshima Prefecture and other areas in the fall of 2025 is likely a case that left a strong impression on consumers. The cause is said to be the rise in seawater temperature and salinity due to the intense summer heat, but while the rise in seawater temperature is understandable, there are doubts as to whether the rise in salinity actually occurred, based on data released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

I believe the cause of this mass die-off is the long-standing problem of overcrowded aquaculture. In Hiroshima, most oysters are cultivated using the hanging method, but overcrowding has led to environmental degradation, and die-offs of 3% to 5% have been frequent in the past. This time it's just that it's increased to 9%. However, benthic(benthic organisms)They haven't properly investigated the environmental impact directly beneath the aquaculture farms, such as how many of these organisms are present or how much sulfide is contained in the seabed sediment.

Even within Hiroshima Bay, there are only four locations where fixed-point observations of benthos and bottom sediment are conducted, and these observations are only made once a year. With this limited information, it's impossible to know what's actually happening in the ocean. However, since wild oysters and oysters farmed using the longline method (single basket system) at low density outside Hiroshima Bay are not dying, the effects of overcrowding should be considered first, rather than seawater temperature or salinity. Yet, surprisingly, some people in the field seem to believe that if the survival rate is low, increasing the density further will ensure production levels.

Low-density oyster farming using the longline method (single basket system)

Where does Japan stand in the global context? The limitations of resource and aquaculture management without data.

—How does Japan's resource management compare to that of other countries?

From my perspective, Japan's fisheries management is extremely behind other developed countries, to the point where I think developing countries might even be doing better in terms of aquaculture. In recent years, developing countries that export farmed seafood have been increasingly striving to raise their management standards and obtain international certifications in order to gain trust in developed markets. However, Japan is not even adequately collecting data for resource assessment or monitoring the environmental conditions of aquaculture grounds, let alone managing its fisheries.

This is because, since the Fisheries Act enacted in 1949, Japan's legal system has been based on management through "fisheries adjustments led by fishermen," meaning that how to use and manage the sea was left to discussions and respect for the autonomy of fishermen, and administrative management was rarely at the forefront.

The rules for management established under the Fisheries Act are created primarily by fishermen, and even though the format may have changed, fishermen's representatives still hold a significant weight in both the national-level Fisheries Policy Council and the prefectural-level Sea Area Fisheries Adjustment Committees. Nearly 8% of the members in the Resource Management Subcommittee of the Fisheries Policy Council are fishermen's representatives. The same is true for the Sea Area Fisheries Adjustment Committees. It can be said that a structure in which the adjustment of fishermen's interests takes precedence over scientific resource management is still being preserved.

—So, resource assessment andTACHow should this be implemented in Japan?

The 2018 revised Fisheries Act mandates resource management based on Total Allowable Catch (TAC), but TAC management cannot function without accurate resource assessment, thus requiring precise catch data. While large-scale fisheries, such as those licensed by the Minister, have relatively abundant data, medium- and small-scale vessels managed by prefectural governors, as well as small-scale fisheries, suffer from a severe lack of catch data necessary for resource assessment.

In Japan, where fisheries are primarily driven by fishermen and Total Allowable Catch (TAC) regulations are not strict, the minimum catch size regulations are also considerably more lenient compared to other countries. (Top: Seto Inland Sea Fisheries Regulations and Hiroshima Prefecture Fisheries Adjustment Regulations; Bottom: Sticker for measuring the minimum fish size created by the Southern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) in the UK)

Although the revised Fisheries Act imposes reporting obligations on all fishermen, it's not easy to suddenly demand strict reporting when the reporting requirements were previously lax. Even with the 2025 Total Allowable Catch (TAC) management for Japanese flying squid, small squid fishing vessels struggled to keep up, resulting in situations where the quota was already exceeded by the time the data was compiled. While the Resource Management Subcommittee approved an unscientific proposal to increase the TAC, only a small number of fishermen directly objected. Thus, in Japan, TAC recommendations are a result of balancing the interests of fishermen. This structure needs to be changed. 

Professor Sakaguchi offers a sharp critique of the structural problems facing Japan's fisheries industry. He argues that the lack of sufficient catch data for many fish species, which prevents effective resource assessment, makes resource management difficult. What path should Japan's fisheries industry take from here?Part 2Now, let's discuss best practices both domestically and internationally, and the roles that each party should play from a global governance perspective.

Interviewed and written by: Shino Kawasaki

After working as an editor and writer on corporate advertising, she became a freelance writer, copywriter, and food coordinator in 2016. She specializes in "clothing, food, shelter, and medicine," and writes for a wide range of media.