The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Fisheries Agency have been criticized for importing a large amount of fry smuggled from Taiwan to Hong Kong with respect to the endangered two-horned eel. It turns out that it has decided to relax the regulation of fry trade in order to normalize it, saying that it is creating uncertain transactions.
Nihon eel, which is designated as an endangered species, is traded on the premise of international resource management, but the fry that Japan imports for domestic aquaculture are actually fry. Many of them are from Hong Kong, where fishing is not carried out, and it has been pointed out by the international community that the transactions are unclear.
Against this background, Taiwan and Japan, which are the main production areas of fry, regulate each other's exports for the purpose of industrial protection, and after passing through this regulation, fry are smuggled from Taiwan to Hong Kong, which is Japan. There is a fact that it is sent to.
Under these circumstances, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Fisheries Agency have implemented the Export Trade Control Ordinance so that exports will be possible from December to April of the following year, which is currently not permitted, in order to normalize transactions with Taiwan. We have decided on a policy to change.
By deregulating Japan first, it seems that the aim is to promote deregulation on the Taiwanese side and normalize transactions between Japan and Taiwan.
It has been pointed out that the opaque transaction called the "Hong Kong route" is one of the causes of the soaring eel prices, and some people expect the eel price to stabilize by normalizing the transaction.
The Fisheries Agency will issue a prior confirmation certificate to those who meet the requirements as early as next month, and it is expected that the export of fry from Japan will be lifted, and the Fisheries Agency said, "By eliminating regulations that do not match the actual situation, We want to make it transparent and improve the image of the industry for the international community and consumers. "
Stabilization of eel prices
Most of the fry of eels imported into Japan come from Hong Kong, and although the import volume fluctuates every year, according to the Ministry of Finance, it was more than 92% of the import volume last season and more than 98% in the previous season. Was imported from Hong Kong.
However, since fry are not caught in Hong Kong, it has been pointed out that many of these were smuggled from Taiwan, where exports were banned, to Hong Kong, and then sent to Japan as Hong Kong products. ..
In the background, there were export restrictions on both Japan and Taiwan.
Both Japan and Taiwan catch and cultivate "Japanese eel" fry, but since the time when the fry is caught and the time when they start aquaculture are different, they used to export the fry to each other and accommodate each other. However, after Japan regulated exports in 1976 for the purpose of industrial protection, the Taiwanese side also regulated exports in 2007.
The Japanese eel was endangered by the IUCN = International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2014 due to the declining resources, and in 2018, the secretariat of the Washington Convention, which regulates international wildlife trade, announced that the Japanese eel We have compiled a report pointing out that eels have been smuggled from Taiwan and elsewhere to Hong Kong and sent to Japan.
This opaque deal, called the "Hong Kong route," has also been pointed out as one of the causes of soaring eel prices.
It has been pointed out that the intentions of a small number of traders who are in charge of transactions have a mechanism that greatly affects the price of fry, and it has also affected the selling price of farmed eels in Japan.
For these reasons, it is expected that there will be increasing expectations that eel prices will stabilize in the future as a result of deregulation of trade aimed at normalizing the transaction.