Procuring Japanese seafood is becoming increasingly difficult due to declining resources, rising seawater temperatures due to climate change, increasing global demand, and currency exchange rate fluctuations. How can we sustainably increase domestic seafood production to maintain a stable supply? The fisheries industry newspaper the Daily Minato held a roundtable discussion titled “Sustainable Fisheries Conference” on December 6th of 2024in Tokyo, featuring three participants: Masaru Ikemi, President of Maruha Nichiro; Shingo Hamada, President of Nissui; and Takeshi Mori, Director-General of the Fisheries Agency. The leaders of the two major seafood companies and the fisheries administration discussed measures to make the domestic fisheries industry more sustainable, looking ahead to the next 10 years. They also heard requests from the private sector and the government.

(Titles omitted in the text, Moderator: Akiyoshi Ukida, General Manager of the Daily Minato and Director of Minato-Yamaguchi)

This feature is reprinted from the January 30, 2025 issue of the Daily Minato.

<Past Series>
[Part1]Fish Stock Management: Maruha Nichiro CEO, Ikemi “Budget and Personnel Needed for Research”

[Part2]Climate Change: Nissui CEO, Hamada, “Toward Improved Productivity Through Larger Fishing Vessels”

The second topic of discussion was “climate change.”

Q: Climate change is seriously affecting global fish stocks. For example, crabs in the Bering Sea have died en masse due to marine heat waves with abnormally high water temperatures. In Japan, high water temperatures occur almost every year off the Sanriku coast, seriously affecting fisheries.

Mori : In recent years, changes in the marine environment, such as rising seawater temperatures, have occurred throughout the country, resulting in poor catches of saury, salmon, and Japanese flying squid, and some fish species, such as pufferfish and cutlassfish, are moving their fishing grounds northward. Also, there are fish species, such as yellowtail, whose resources have increased to some extent. In such a situation, grasping the situation through resource assessment is a major premise, but the response from the fisheries’ side is also significant.

The Fisheries Agency plans to support the transition to flexible fisheries management, such as multiple fishing methods and target fish species. We know that efforts are being made at fishing sites, such as trial fishing of sardines using saury stick-net equipment, and salmon set-net fishermen, whose catches are declining, are switching to salmon farming. We believe that the government should consider supportive budgets and institutional responses.

Ikemi: Climate change is an issue that the world should address. Climate change also affects our group, such as a decrease in raw materials from the inshore area at domestic canning factories and a sharp decrease in fresh fish handling at receiving companies (market wholesalers). In aquaculture, the adverse effects of high water temperatures on growth are apparent, and there are concerns about further deterioration.

On the other hand, there are not all adverse effects. If catches increase, like yellowtail in Hokkaido, it will create new business opportunities.

Nissui, CEO, Hamada

Hamada: Of the approximately 340,000 CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions from our group in the fiscal year 2023, approximately 70,000 tons are related to fishing vessels. To reduce emissions, a group company is researching aquaculture feeding vessels that have introduced hydrogen fuel cells, utilizing the Fisheries Agency’s project.

However, we cannot easily stop the temperature of seawater, and one company cannot solve climate change. We have no choice but to improve fisheries’ productivity. For that purpose, larger fishing vessels are necessary. Japan has a large number of small vessels, and mitigating measures will be required to reduce the number of vessels and improve productivity.

Q: What do you think about dividing roles between large-scale and small-scale fishing vessel fisheries?

Mori: There is no specific role that each should aim for. As a result, large-scale fisheries provide a stable supply of popular fish, while relatively small-scale fisheries, such as coastal fisheries, play a role in delivering a wide variety of local fish.

Considering the nationwide development of “Umi-gyo” (seafod industries) that attracts many people, including inbound tourists, to the beaches, the functions of coastal medium and small-scale fisheries are expected to allow people to eat fresh fish and enjoy fishing experiences.

Hamada: Umi-gyo cannot be established without fish landing in the inshore area. We can not revitalize fishing villages without fishing vessels, and small fishing vessels are necessary, but there is no need to increase them more than the current situation. There are more than 800 fishery cooperative associations nationwide. Still, although it is extreme, it is urgent to increase the size of organizations, such as aiming for one fishery cooperative association in each prefecture.

However, diversity of supply is necessary, and it is important to balance with small-scale fisheries.