Northern Japan Fishermen Hobbled Low Catch, Higher Fuel Price

The plight of fishermen in northern Japan has worsened as they are buffeted by the deteriorating relations between Japan and Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine, soaring fuel oil prices and poor catches of major species, including Pacific saury, Hirofumi Morita and Shumpei Nakamura reported for Yomiuri Shimbun.

Photo Insert: Japanese fishing boats

According to the Fisheries Agency, the monthly average price of crude oil ranged from 2009 between ¥14 per liter in April 2020 and ¥70 per liter in December 2013.

However, since March this year, the price has moved between ¥81 and ¥95 per liter, increasing the burden of fuel oil costs on fishermen. In the aquaculture industry, feed accounts for 70% of production costs, and in August, compound feed prices rose by 20% to 30%.

The agency is considering boosting its support to counteract soaring fuel oil and feed prices.

“The schools of fish are small again this year. Even when we catch them, they’re just slender ones that would’ve been used for processing 10 years ago,” said the chief fisherman of a large vessel. In 2010, saury landings at Hanasaki Port exceeded 32,000 tons at the end of September. In recent years, however, the catch has hit record lows.

This year it was less than 3,000 tons at the end of September. “Even in the latter half of October, there have been no signs of a turnaround,” said an official at the Japan Fisheries Information Service Center in Tokyo.

“We don’t have a permit to fish in waters 200 nautical miles off the coast of Russia this year, so even if there are fish in the high seas nearby, we can’t go near them. It would be a disaster if we were to be caught [by Russia].”

Every year, the national saury fishery association applies to Russian authorities for permits to operate in that country’s waters, which are then handed over to about 100 Japanese vessels.

This year, however, they were unable to send the relevant documents to Russia because international courier services to Vladivostok are not available due to economic sanctions imposed on Russia.

“We want to break the deadlock to secure our precious catch,” said Kohei Oishi, managing director of the association. A similar situation is occurring with squid fishing in the Sea of Japan.

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