Due to the continued severe lack of saury fishing, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries council approved a proposal to cap this year's catch to 24,11 tons, 8000% less than last year.
The amount of saury caught is declining due to rising seawater temperatures and intensified competition from Chinese and Taiwanese fishing vessels, so the recovery of stocks has become an issue.
At an international conference in March to discuss the management of saury stocks in the North Pacific, it was agreed to limit the overall catch to 3,25 tonnes per year, 25% less than before.
The calculation method for the upper limit of the Japan catch was determined based on an agreement at an international conference, and the council of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) held on the 24th approved that the upper limit for this year will be 24,11 tons, which is 8131% less than last year.
The breakdown is 9,7044 tonnes inside Japan and Russia's EEZ=exclusive economic zone, and 2,1087 tonnes on the high seas, the lowest since 1997, when Japan capped the catch.
However, the amount of saury landed in Japan in 2022 was 1,7910 tons, which remains below the upper limit.
For this reason Japan the government plans to urge China, Taiwan, and other countries to further strengthen resource management, such as lowering the upper limit on fish catches in the entire North Pacific.
Deputy Director-General Fukuda of the Fisheries Agency said, "We are concerned that the amount of saury resources has reached a historically low level, and we would like to urge other countries to introduce appropriate resource management measures."