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”

[Part3]Aquaculture: the Director-General of Fishery Agency, Mori “Expectations for Collaboration Between Both Companies and Small and Medium-Sized Producers”

The third topic of discussion was “aquaculture.”

Q: How do you position your domestic aquaculture business within the diverse domestic and international businesses you are developing? Also, what are your requests to the government?

Hamada: Domestic aquaculture is a critical field, and further growth can be expected in the future. However, while aquaculture production is increasing worldwide, it is not growing in Japan. The government has launched a comprehensive strategy for the growth and industrialization of aquaculture under the revised Fisheries Act. Still, there are parts where policy and reality are out of sync, which is a bottleneck to expanding production scale.

Even if the Fisheries Act is revised, we cannot conduct marine aquaculture without the consent of the fishery cooperative association. Of course, cooperation with the association is essential. Using their facilities, such as empty warehouses that are not used for fishing, will also lead to regional revitalization. While increasing employment is suitable, building a cooperative system takes a very long time.

Also, under the Fisheries Cooperatives Act, corporations with more than 300 members cannot become members, so we must create many subsidiaries to increase production.

We would like the government to take more initiative and be at the forefront of expanding domestic aquaculture production.

Maruhanichiro, CEO, Ikemi

Ikemi: I agree with the issues raised by President Hamada. In addition, we need to create a system that can further industrialize aquaculture from the perspective of a stable protein supply and food security. Although it depends on the fish species, farmed fish generally take 2-3 years to ship. Funds are also needed for research to solve individual problems, such as fish disease control and distribution.

Greater collaboration between small producers and large players is needed. For example, in yellowtail farming in Sakurajima, Kagoshima Prefecture, large fish farms submerged to 20 meters are being introduced because seawater temperatures have risen to 32-33 degrees in recent years. However, it would be difficult for small businesses to invest in equipment. We would like to create a system to prepare the facilities and collaborate on aquaculture.

The submersible fish cage introduced by Maruha Nichiro AQUA at the Sakurajima yellowtail farm. Photo by Maruhanichiro

Hamada: The Nissui Group is engaged in salmon farming in Chile, and the Chilean government strictly manages the bottom quality of the seabed and the fish production volume. The government sets the fish species and density for each sea area, and based on the aquaculture results we report, the government issues instructions such as requests for production cuts. The government’s management and involvement based on scientific evidence ultimately leads to increased farmed fish production.

Mori: Sea surface use for aquaculture (such as demarcated fishing rights) is managed by prefectures. Under the revised Fisheries Act, the government has been working to make the process of fishery ground plans, which are the prerequisites for granting fishing rights formulated by prefectures, more transparent. In the past, we formulated fishery ground plans in principle every five years, but now, based on new entry needs, we are actively recommending the establishment of new zones, not limited to once every five years.

We appreciate that both companies have entered the aquaculture business by building relationships with local fishery cooperative associations and are working to grow and industrialize in collaboration with small and medium-sized producers in each region. We look forward to your continued efforts. If you have any specific issues, please share information with the Fisheries Agency.

The large-scale offshore aquaculture system of the Nissui Group’s Yumigahama Suisan.　Photo by Nissui

Fish Disease Control

Hamada: There is also the problem of the development of domestic vaccines not progressing. While review and approval procedures are, of course, necessary, I would like at least drugs that are sold and used overseas to be available for use in Japan. For example, vaccines for IHN (infectious hematopoietic necrosis), which causes significant damage to salmonids, are already on the market in the United States and Canada but cannot be imported into Japan. We have a sense of crisis as salmon farming is rising in Japan.

In addition, because Japan cannot mix antibiotics in aquaculture feed, aquaculture farmers are coating the feed and feeding it, making it easier for antibiotics to spread to the ocean, a global issue. We would like you to take measures beyond the framework of ministries and agencies.

 Mori : With the changing marine environment, technological innovations such as vaccines are needed as countermeasures against fish diseases. On the other hand, there is also the issue that the scale of Japan’s aquaculture industry is small, and development is not progressing easily. We believe it is necessary to increase the aquaculture industry’s scale significantly. We would like to compile stakeholders’ requests as a nation and take research and development and essential measures.

Land-Based Aquaculture

Q: As new entries into land-based aquaculture, which does not require fishing rights, are increasing one after another, the Fisheries Agency introduced a notification system for land-based aquaculture in April 2023.

Mori: We introduced a notification system for land-based aquaculture based on the Inland Water Fisheries Promotion Act. The system aims to grasp the actual situation, including drainage problems, as cases of land-based aquaculture are increasing in a somewhat free state. We will strive to learn the exact situation, including how the fisheries administration should respond to land-based aquaculture and whether it is desirable for the government to step in. We also closely watch future trends, such as whether businesses are considering export markets.

Q: Maruha Nichiro has started a land-based aquaculture business for Atlantic salmon with Mitsubishi Corporation. Nissui is participating in a land-based aquaculture business in Denmark with Marubeni and is also engaged in land-based aquaculture of Whiteleg shrimp in Kagoshima. What is the position of the land-based aquaculture business?

Ikemi: It is not easy to enter marine aquaculture in Japan, and we believe that land-based aquaculture, which can artificially control the environment, such as water temperature, can also be a solution to climate change. However, land-based aquaculture requires high initial costs, such as soaring facility construction costs. Furthermore, running costs such as energy (electricity) are also incurred. Atland, a joint venture between our company and Mitsubishi Corporation, will likely suppress energy costs by using deep seawater from Toyama Bay and underground water from the Kurobe River, which have low water temperatures. However, it cannot be produced anywhere; water is the key. There are many issues, such as how to sell fish at prices that can pass on production costs.

Hamada: Consumers in the European Union (EU) will buy farmed fish produced with consideration for the environment, even if the price is high. Therefore, land-based farmed salmon is also highly evaluated. However, selling to Japanese consumers at the same price may be difficult. It is necessary to have a market that properly evaluates the value of fish.