In order to aim for sustainable spiny lobster fishing, efforts are underway in Nichinan City, Miyazaki Prefecture to increase the number of children of spiny lobster using "artificial seaweed".
This initiative is being carried out by the fishery cooperatives in Nichinan City using city subsidies with the aim of making spiny lobster fishing sustainable in the future.
On the 28th, five people, including fishermen and fishermen's cooperative staff, left the port of Meizu by boat and headed for the sea area where a mechanism to increase the number of spiny lobsters was set up about 2 km offshore.
The gimmick is made of artificial fiber by imitating seaweed, and was developed by paying attention to the habit that juvenile shrimp hatched from eggs grow by using seaweed as a habitat.
On the 28th, the gimmicks installed in April were withdrawn, and a total of 30 juveniles, 3 to 5 cm in length, were found from the four gimmicks.
The juvenile shrimp were soon returned to the nearby rocky waters where spiny lobsters could easily breed.
Deputy General Manager of the Nango Fisheries Cooperative General Affairs Department said, "I feel that it is helping to establish Ise Ebi. I would like to continue this initiative in the future."