Japan is an island country surrounded by sea. 75% of its land area is mountainous, and agricultural land is very limited. In order to alleviate the contradiction between land resources and population needs, Japan has used marine life as the main source of animal protein in the past few centuries.
Japanese fishing boats go to sea to operate
However, the fishery resources in Japan's offshore waters are also limited. In the past 20 years, the catch in Japan's offshore waters has been declining - in 1995, the fishing output was still around 5 million tons. By 2016, It dropped to 3 million tons. For an island country that relies on the sea for its livelihood, having “no fish to catch” offshore is obviously a rather embarrassing situation.
Per capita aquatic product possessions in various countries around the world
Japan’s fishery has a very glorious past. The total fishery output was once the first in the world. In 2001, the per capita aquatic product possessions were as high as 70 kilograms (as shown in the figure above). Since 2002, Japan's fishery production has been declining, and the current per capita share of aquatic products is less than 60 kilograms. During the same period, China's performance was very eye-catching. The per capita aquatic product share has been rising steadily, exceeding 30 kilograms in 2011. Recent data shows that China’s per capita aquatic product consumption has reached 46.45 kilograms in 2019.
It is undeniable that Japan's seafood industry has obviously "shrunk" a lot in the past 40 years, and today's "endgame" is largely the result of overfishing. In the 1980s, Japan's fishery output was once as high as 12.81 million tons. By 2014, the output was only 4.79 million tons, a decrease of nearly 2/3.
In order to get rid of the current fishery dilemma, Japan has taken three main measures. The first is to vigorously develop distant-water fisheries , the second is to carry out artificial breeding, and the third is to import a large amount of seafood to fill the market gap.
First, let’s talk about Japan’s offshore fisheries.
From the early 1960s to the late 1970s, Japan's distant-water fishery entered a golden period of rapid development. At its peak, there were more than 340 distant-water trawlers operating in the open sea, with a catch of 4 million tons. At that time, many countries around Japan had not developed offshore fisheries and had limited fishing capabilities. Therefore, Japanese fishing boats often went to the offshore waters of other countries to plunder fishery resources.
The baleen whales in my country's East China Sea and Yellow Sea waters were once captured in large numbers by Japanese fishing boats. However, at that time, the number of large fishing boats capable of catching whales in our country was very small, and we could only watch Japanese fishermen catch them. Since the United Nations Convention on the Sea came into effect, countries with maritime sovereignty have designated waters within 200 nautical miles from the coastline as exclusive economic zones, and Japanese fishing boats no longer dare to do whatever they want.
Japanese fishing boats capture baleen whales
As Japan, the United States, Russia, South Korea, China and other countries have successively developed distant water fisheries, international competition has become increasingly fierce. From the krill in the Southern Ocean to the Arctic sweet shrimp in the North Pacific, all species with commercial development value are "doomed". Some people even jokingly say that every ocean-going fishing vessel is a mobile "sea gold". mine".
According to a survey, more than 60% of Japanese offshore fishing vessels are more than 20 years old. The fishing facilities are outdated and in urgent need of upgrading. Take the fishing of Antarctic krill as an example. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Japan’s offshore shrimp fishing vessels have been in the leading position in the commercial fishing of Antarctic krill for a long time (from 1993 to 2005, Japan’s Antarctic krill fishing has always been It is the first in the world). However, due to the aging of fishing vessel equipment, production capacity gradually declined. By 2013, Japan completely withdrew from the Antarctic krill commercial competition.
Antarctic krill
Although offshore properties can solve "urgent needs", it is not a "long-term business" because this fishing method is essentially a consumption of biological resources and is not sustainable.
takes bluefin tuna as an example. As a typical pelagic fish species, bluefin tuna has always been known for its super migration ability. Some individuals will migrate around the entire Atlantic Ocean, with a total path of 16,000 kilometers and an average swimming speed of up to 80 kilometers per hour.
Unfortunately, over the past 40 years, the number of bluefin tuna living in the Atlantic has decreased by 85%, and the number of northern bluefin tuna in the Pacific has also decreased by 96% from the initial population. Today, bluefin tuna is listed on the Red List of Endangered Species, and the survival status of wild populations is no longer ideal.
Therefore, offshore fisheries are not a “one-stop” option—artificial breeding is.
In the sea area on the west side of Kyushu Avenue in Japan, a branch of the Kuroshio Warm Current (Tsushima Warm Current) passes by. The seawater temperature is suitable and rich in nutrients, making it very suitable for the development of marine aquaculture. After the end of World War II, it took Japan 10 years to increase the production of marine aquaculture to 154,000 tons. Since then, the production has been rising steadily, and in 1983 it exceeded the 1 million tons mark.
Japanese seafood culture output and single product proportion in 2013
Traditional fish species cultured in Japanese seawater are basically large fish with high economic value, such as amberjack, sea bream, silver salmon, Mackerel , flounder butterfly and so on. In particular, amberjack has smooth, tender meat and a delicious taste. It is known as the "beef of the ocean" and is deeply loved by Japanese consumers.
In 2002, after 32 years of scientific and technological research, Japan successfully broke through the artificial breeding technology of bluefin tuna. Since then, Japan’s seafood farming industry has gained another “dark horse”—after all, in terms of taste and meat quality, amberjack is definitely not as attractive to foodies as bluefin tuna.
Amberjack
After more than 10 years of development, Japan’s bluefin tuna farming output has reached 15,000 tons in 2014. This was something that Japanese fishermen did not even dare to think about before. Also in 2014, statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) showed that the global fishing output of Pacific bluefin tuna was only 15,600 tons—that is to say, the output of Pacific bluefin tuna farmed in Japan was basically the same as the world’s total fishing output. Production is flat!
From this point of view, breeding is indeed a "public welfare activity" that kills two birds with one stone: it not only meets people's consumption needs, but also reduces the fishing pressure on wild populations by distant-water fishing vessels. This is definitely a good thing for the population recovery of distant-water fish species. What a great thing.
Japan’s foodies are so powerful that more than 90% of Japan’s self-produced seafood are consumed by domestic consumers. But even so, Japan must import a large amount of seafood products every year to satisfy the market's "appetite."
Japanese food restaurant
Japan is the world's third largest seafood importer. In 2019, Japan's seafood import volume reached 2.5 million tons, with an import value of US$15.6 billion. The top three "suppliers" are China (50 10,000 tons), the United States (300,000 tons) and Chile (200,000 tons).
In addition, survey data from Global Data shows that among Japanese seafood consumer groups, women account for 50.5%, slightly higher than men. Urban residents’ consumption of seafood accounts for as high as 99.5%, while that in rural areas is only 0.5%. The “polarization” is very obvious.
Tuna Auction Market
Overall, Japan’s seafood industry is currently in a period of transformation. In 2018, the Japanese government invested 5.04 billion yuan in building aquatic infrastructure, and also allocated 1.3 billion yuan to restore offshore fishery resources.
Can Japan succeed in its transformation? How should the needs of foodies be addressed? This is related to the fate of many commercial fish species - after all, no one wants to see the day when bluefin tuna is "eaten".
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