Japan's Squid Fishing Industry

Japan's Squid Fishing Industry WILLIAM G. COURT Introduction Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan have es oceanographic changes, but it is now tablished squid fisheries, a quality widely attributed to overfishing. Dried-squid (surume) has been an product, and good access to Japan's Increased catches by Japanese boats item of commerce, ceremony, and diet markets, and many other nations are overseas have characterized the past 10 in Japan for hundreds of years, and actively developing squid fisheries to years. In 1977 this figure reached about squid is caught and is a popular food compete for that market. Con 18 percent of Japan's total squid land throughout the island nation. sequently, increases in supply may hold ings of 490,000 tons and continues to Immediately after World War II, squid prices down (Rodgers, 1979). rise. Squid imports have been increas food shortages, a surplus of labor, and Also, Japan prefers frozen to pro ing since initiated in 1971, and in 1978 the low capital investment required for cessed imports and this discourages achieved a record high of about squid jigging stimulated the rapid de processing and the investment oppor 100,000 tons, or 10 percent of the vol velopment of the fishery. In 1952 squid tunities it offers. Furthermore, Japan is ume of total fishery imports. landings reached 646,730 tons and, at more interested in joint ventures or In 1978 over 85 percent of the land 15 percent of the total, became Japan's other access to foreign fishing grounds ings in Japan's waters consisted of T. most abundant landing. than in merely purchasing squid, and pacijicus and Ommastrephes bartrami Until the mid-1960's most landings some nations are more disposed to such (LeSueur). Loligo pealei (LeSueur) were dried and much of the product was arrangements than is the United States. and lllex illecebrosus (LeSueur) from exported to China. Since then domestic Thus the United States faces severe the northwest Atlantic, lllex argen ... markets have been developed for a wide competition, and it will be difficult to tinius (Castellanos) from Argentine variety of fresh, frozen, and processed establish squid markets in Japan. The waters, Nototodarus sloani gouldi products and demand has increased. following discussion attempts to intro (McCoy) from Australia, and The main cause of worldwide de duce Japan's squid fisheries and mar velopments in squid fisheries within the kets and to provide some background past decade has been the inability of against which to evaluate strategies for Japan's squid fisheries to continue to developing the U.S. squid fishing meet this demand from waters adjacent industry. to Japan. The overseas extension of Ja 700 pan's squid fisheries and the rise of The Fishery foreign squid fisheries to supply Ja pan's markets attests to this. Today Japan's domestic landings have been squ id resources are depleted in Japan's decreasing since reaching a record high waters and the nation's overseas squid of 773,777 tons in 1968, and although fisheries are increasingly restricted. Todarodes pacificus (Steenstrup) pre Consequently, Japan's squid imports dominated until 1970, the composition are increasing and its squid fishing in of the landings has changed markedly dustry is actively seeking and par since then (Fig. 1). Depletion of the T. ticipating in joint ventures overseas. pacijicus resource was influenced by o'--------'-_--'-_L-----L_-'----'__ What opportunities does Japan's 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 squid market offer the U.S. fishing in Year dustry? Unlike salmon and crab, the major U.S. exports to Japan, squid is a William G. Court is a research student at the Tokyo University of Fisheries, 4-5-7 Konan, Figure I.-Japan's squid landings, relatively low-value item and it is Minato-ku, Tokyo 108, Japan. Home Address: 1963-77. Solid line = "Surume widely available in the waters of na c/o HASHIO, 3-7-9 Kita, Koenji, Suginami-ku, ika" (Todarodes pacificus, Tokyo 166, Japan. Views or opinions expressed Nototodarus sloani sloan;, etc.); tions with fishing costs considerably or implied do not necessarily reflect the position dashes = other squid (Ommastrephes lower than those of the United States. ofthe National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. bartrami, Loligo spp., etc.). July-August 1980 1 .. Nototodarus sloani sloani (Gray) from equipment is the electric generator New Zealand constituted most of Ja which, because of the high power de pan's overseas landings. Imports were mand of the squid-attracting lights, dominated by the same species with the may have a capacity of as much as 300 exception of O. bartrami. kW on a 30-ton boat. However, many About 70 percent of Japan's squid feel such bright lighting is unnecessary landings are caught by jigging, a simple and wastes precious fuel. There are un mechanized method which usually enforced limits on the power of light takes place at night when bright over ing, but gross violation is reportedly head lights attract the squid. Jigs, 6-cm common. However, the Kudo Fisheries lures with clusters of unbarbed hooks, Cooperative Association in southern are secured at 90-cm intervals on a Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's monofilament line which is continu Typical Japanese squid jigs. Photo main islands, has for 10 years limited ously lowered and raised with a jigging courtesy of the Yamaha Fishery its 10-ton boats to 15 kW, and this motion at depths of 30 m to more than Journal. cooperative has one of the best landings 140 m. Squid, attacking the moving and income records in the region. jigs, ensnare their tenacles on the Most boats over 90 tons and some of hooks. The jigs shift to a horizontal schemes. Most smaller boats are made the smaller ones have freezing equip position when reeled aboard, and thus of either wood or ferro-reinforced plas ment on board. The 90-100 ton boats the squid readily become disengaged. tic while steel hulls predominate in usually have a freezing capacity of8-12 The percentage of squid landed by those over 50 tons. tons and the larger boats 10-17 tons per jigging is declining; other fishing Since 1963, the proportion of land day, and an experienced crew must methods include use of drift gillnets, set ings made by jigging has changed work a hard day plus overtime to freeze nets, and bottom trawls. Most of Ja markedly by size of boat. The percent this amount. Virgin grounds with a lim pan's squid fishing off North America, age of landings by boats less than 3 tons ited number of boats could yield Argentina, and Africa, and some of that and by 10-50 ton boats has decreased catches in excess of these quantities, in in home waters, is by trawlers. That off almost two-thirds and that of 3-10 ton which case access to large-capacity New Zealand is by a combination of boats has remained constant. The shore-based freezing and storage trawlers and jigging boats. In 1979, large-scale and 90-100 ton boats made facilities or other arrangements would jigging on a limited scale began off less than 5 percent of the landings in have to be made. However, the catch eastern Canada. 1963 and now account for over 50 per per unit effort (CPUE) on the Japanese Trawling endangers both squid and cent of the total. These changes reflect and New Zealand fishing grounds is not other resources because it catches ev the increase in the scale of the boats, sufficient to make this a problem. erything without discrimination and the shift in the focus of the fishery from One of the 99-ton boats jigging ex seems to damage small squid which es coastal to offshore waters, and the de perimentally off eastern Canada has cape through the mesh. Jigging catches velopment of Japan's overseas jigging been specially equipped with expanded only squid and exerts less pressure on fisheries. freezing capacity. However, limited the resource per unit of effort than does Of the approximately 30,000 small storage space on this size boat necessi trawling. Therefore, as a resource man scale boats which jig for squid, 86 per tates frequent trips to shore, thus reduc agement measure, the Canadian Gov cent also fish for other species. How ing time on the fishing grounds and, in ernment has reportedly considered en ever, 42 percent of the medium-scale turn, efficiency. couraging the foreign boats fishing for boats and all of the large-scale boats The high costs of large-scale boats squid within Canada's 200-mile zone to fish only for squid. The number of discourages their use by the coastal na shift to jigging (Watanabe'). medium-scale boats has decreased to tion. Therefore a barge-mounted, highly Japanese squid jigging boats are di 2,300 in the past 6 years, but the automated freezing plant might be con vided into three classes: Small-scale, number of 90-100 ton boats has in sidered for use in conjunction with 1-30 ton; medium-scale, 30-100 ton; creased. Of the latter, 646 or 77 percent small- and medium-scale boats for the and large-scale, 100-500 ton. How are highly efficient, specially designed offshore fishery. Another application ever, the Japanese system computes squid jigging boats. The number of for a barge might be for preliminary fishing boat tonnage at one-half to large-scale boats has been fixed at 212 processing at sea to avoid expensive one-quarter of the value which would since 1973, but through license transfer land-based waste-water treatment and be assigned by standard classification their average size has increased annu disposal problems.

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