The authors review here briefly the fisheries management scheme for nearshore and coastal fisheries in Japan, since any discussion of specific examples needs to refer frequently to this basic scheme.
The legal basis for fisheries management in Japan has been defined by the three major fisheries laws, namely (i) the Fisheries Law, enacted in 1949, (ii) the Fisheries Resources Conservation Law, 1951 and (iii) the Fisheries Co-operatives Law, 1948. Details of the entire system and its functions have already been well documented in a few other papers, e.g. Asada, 1973, Asada et al., 1983. The authors therefore present here only a brief review, focusing on the items most important for nearshore and coastal fisheries, discussed in this paper.
Four major principles, based on these three laws, have been adopted for the entire management scheme in Japan. They are (1) the establishment of the exclusive-use right in nearshore zones, (2) the enforcement of the control of total fishing intensity of various fisheries in defined waters during the specified season, (3) the establishment and enforcement of various conservation measures and (4) the promotion of co-ordination and co-operation among fishermen.
The Fishing-Right Fisheries defined by the Fisheries Law all fall into this category. They are divided into three categories, namely, (i) the setnet fishing-right fishery, (ii) the demarcated fishing-right fishery and (iii) the common fishing-right fishery. Table 1 shows the structure of these fisheries.
All the fishing rights are granted by the prefectural governer. However, the details of granting conditions and the management scheme to be employed afterwards have been strictly defined by the law. Furthermore, the governor, in granting a right, in establishing a new regulatory measure or in coordinating troubles when they occur, must hold consultations with the Sea Area Fisheries Coordination Committee, an independent local authority established in each of the sea areas surrounding the Japanese coast. There are 66 sea areas covering the whole coastal waters around Japan.
The fishery includes various setnet fishing in waters deeper than 27 m (sometimes 15 m) aiming at catching salmons, amberjack (yellowtail), sardine, mackerels, Atka mackerels, squids and a variety of other coastal fish species. The fishing right is granted to both individual fishermen/ entrepreneurs and fisheries co-operatives on the coast.1
1 193 rights were granted to fisheries co-operatives out of 1 844 rights issued in 1985.
| Fishing right | Major Fisheries | Grantee |
|---|---|---|
| Setnet fishing | Various setnet fisheries; salmons, amber jack, sardine, mackerel, Atka mackerel, etc. | Fishermen/entrepreneurs and fisheries co–operatives |
| Demarcated fishing | Various types of aquculture; Seaweeds, oyster,other clams by seabed sowing, kuruma prawn, amberjack, sea breams, etc. | Fisheries co–operatives 1 and fishermen/enterpreneurs |
| Common Fishing | Various small-scale fisheries; shellfish/seaweeds collection, non-mechanized boat seine, beach seine, stake trap, bottom gillnet/longline/liftnet, handline, etc. | Fisheries co–operatives 2 |
1 Entitled to the first priority if an application is made.
2 Exclusively granted to fisheries co-operatives.
This fishery comprises exclusively various types of aquaculture, including seaweeds, oyster, other clams, amberjack, sea breams, other fish, kuruma prawn, etc. Although the grantees include both individuals/ entrepreneurs and fisheries co-operatives, priority is given by law to the latter, if an application is made. In fact, the fishing rights for culturing seaweeds, oyster and clams have been almost exclusively granted to fisheries co–operatives and operated by their members under the sel-fregulatory scheme established by each co–operative. The rights for aquaculture granted to a fisheries co–operative sometimes play an extremely important role, in combination with the setnet and common fishing–rights, in the management of the entire nearshore zone on a self–regulatory basis, examples of which will be presented in the following section of this paper (Section 3).
The fishery covers almost all of the small-scale fisheries currently operating in nearshore waters. These include shellfish/seaweed collection, non–mechanized boat seine, beach seine, stake trap, bottom gillnet/longline/liftnet, handline, etc., which usually form a multi–gear fishery in nearshore waters. However, no mechanized trawl is allowed to operate in nearshore waters around Japan. The fishing right is granted exclusively to fisheries co-operatives or joint-fisheries co-operatives to entrust the co–operatives with the management of fisheries and resources on a self–regulatory basis.
Once the fishing rights mentioned above have been granted, an exclusive-use right is legally generated in terms of specific waters (horizontally and vertically demarcated) and resources in the defined waters. Thus, the grantees are sure to make use of the space and resources. However, various limitations on fishing are of course required, e.g. for conservation, propagation, navigation, communication and recreation purposes. These have been strictly defined by the Fisheries Law and other relevant laws and acts. If the rights are granted to fisheries co-operatives (fishing communities) and managed well, the area and its resources are treated by the community as its own property. Such a responsible attitude, when shared by the majority of the members of a community, undoubtedly facilitates the effective and harmonious utilization of nearshore zones. This is one of the key considerations commonly employed in the management of nearshore waters around Japan.
The limitation of total fishing intensity has been enforced mostly through the licensing/granting scheme and partly by the implementation of various regulatory measures. As is shown in Table 2, there are 5 categories of licensed/granted nearshore and coastal fisheries. These are (i) minister licensed, (ii) minister approved, (iii) governor licensed but nationally registered, (iv) governor licensed but subject to the establishment of local regulatory measures and (v) governor granted but the details are defined by the Fisheries Law, discussed in the previous subsection.
In the first and second categories, the total fishing intensity (total number of licences by vessel size) is decided by the minister on a national basis. In the third category, the governor issues licences within the total allowable number allocated by the minister to each of the prefectures. The governor decides the limit in the fourth. In the fifth, the governor grants the fishing rights but the details are strictly defined by the Fisheries Law. In the fishing-right fisheries, however, when the rights are granted to fisheries co-operatives under the self-regulatory scheme, the details of limitations are decided by the co-operatives on their own within the framework defined by the central and the local government. Examples of this will be presented in Section 3 of this paper.
The total allowable fishing intensity is generally defined by triple limitations, i.e. (i) the total number of fishing vessels to be allowed by gross tonnage class within the total amount of (ii) the gross tonnage and/or (iii) the engine powers of all the vessels in the fishery in the defined waters. In the case of fixed gear such as setnets, stake traps, pots and traps, the total number of gears by type and size is limited in each of the defined waters.
The conservation measures to be employed by both the central and local governments are defined by the Fisheries Resources Conservation Law. The major orders defined by the law include the prohibition and the regulation of (i) catching, (ii) retaining and selling specific fish species, (iii) operating specific gears and vessels, (iv) discarding pollutants and (v) taking or displacing materials retained or deployed for conservation and propagation purposes. Under these headings, the law sets out in more detail conservation measures to be enforced in specific fisheries, resources and waters. These include (a) the establishment of conservation areas, (b) limitation on total fishing intensity, (c) permanent or seasonal closure of fishing grounds (d) a mandatory seasonal lay-off and (e) regulations on the size of fish to be caught and sold, etc.
| Licenser/ grantor/ | Conditions | Major fishereies |
|---|---|---|
| Minister | Licensed | Offshore trawl (larger than 15 gross tons), large to “medium” type purse seine (larger than 40 gross tons), etc. 1 |
| Approved | Saury stick-held dipnet, squid jigging, etc. 2 | |
| Licensed, nationally registered | Medium-type purse seine(5–40 gross tons), boat seine (5–15 gross tons) in the Seto Inland Sea, small-cale mechanized trawl smaller than IS gross tons excluding the Seto Inland Sea,and smaller than 5 gross tons in the Seto Inland Sea, etc. 3 | |
| Governor | Lincensed, subject to local regulation | Various small-scale fisheries by vessels smaller than 5 gross tons; purse seine,boat seine excluding the Seto Inland Sea, surrounding seine, beach seine, non-mechanized seine/trawl, fixed gillnet, various types of angling, bottom longline, pot, trap, diving etc. |
| Granted, defined by Fisheres Law | Fishing-right fisheries;4 setnet fishing-right fishery, demarcated fishing-right fishery, common fishing-right fishery. |
2 These are not multispecies fisheries in the strict sense, see Section 5for details.
4 See Table 1 and previous subsection for details.
All Japanese fishermen and fishery processors are organized into various fisheries co-operatives and are strongly encouraged, by various legal and incentive arrangements defined by the Fisheries Co-operatives' Law, to co-ordinate their fishing operations to achieve harmonious utilization of waters and resources. The law also requires mandatory co-operation (i) with each other and(ii) with fisheries administrations in various administrative matters including the enforcement of management and conservation measures.
The law aims to improve first the socio-economic status of fishermen and fisheries processors, second the overall productivity of fisheries and last, the national economy. It therefore covers many areas of concern to the fisheries, especially those providing some kind of economic benefit or service to members, e.g. (i) banking and credit, (ii) the supply and sale of gear, fuel, ice, food and other daily necessities, (iii)credit/mutual insurance and welfare,(iv) fishing by co-operatives, (v) transportation, wholesale operations, processing, storage and sale of catches and products, etc However, those management and organizational activities have been integrated as important functions within the whole network of fisheries co-operatives' activities.
To introduce an example of the public nature acquired by fisheries co-operatives in Japan, it is worth noting that the majority of fisheries radio stations along the Japanese coast (599 out of 729 total radio stations along the coast in 19851 have been organized and operated by fisheries co-operatives under the legal and incentive arrangements defined by the Law. The fisheries radio stations are now one of the most important transmission networks for fishermen, first for maritime safety, second for facilitating fishing operations and marketing (e.g. receiving fisheries forecasts or reporting the size of catches to wholesale markets), and third for providing a means of communication between fishermen and their families. The radio communication service, including a news service by facsimile, covers all the Japanese fisheries including offshore and long distance-fishing vessels
One of the distinctive features of the fisheries management scheme in Japan, in contrast to those employed in other advanced fishing nations of the world, is that the catch-quota system has hardly been used, and very rarely for finfish. On the very rare occasions, the catch quota system is applied to several local resources, e.g. seaweeds, lobsters, shrimps, scallops and abalone. These are generally enforced by fisheries co-operatives as one of the self-regulatory measures entrusted to them by local governments. In these cases, the landing places are strictly confined to the designated local markets which are usually governed by the co-operatives concerned. An example of this is given in Subsection 3.2.
1 The rest of the stations have been organized and operated by local governments.
In Japan, when a reduction or limitation of the total catch of specific fish species is required (e.g. for conservation, co-ordination or economic purposes), this is achieved by controlling total fishing intensity of the fisheries concerned rather than by limiting the total catch. This is usually done by either (1) reducing the number of operational vessels (abolishing or transferring licences in the long run, and/or laying off selected fishing vessels in the short-term, or (2) adjusting the fishing season (establishing or extending a period of closure).
The simplicity and effectiveness in these measures is far greater than for those required for direct control of the total catch in Japan. In fact, the monitoring and surveillance of the catch-quota system is practically impossible in Japan where numerous fishing vessels are operating at any given time and hundreds of landing places are scattered round the coast (there are 46 central and 734 local wholsale markets). This is why the catch-quota system is limited to local use in Japan, as described above.
Apart from the catch-quota system, the active participation of fisheries co-operatives in the management of coastal waters (both nearshore and offshore waters) is another distinctive feature of the Japanese system. There have been many reports from advanced fishing countries that co-operation given by fishermen has greatly facilitated the implementation of management measures. However, in the Japanese case the fishermen have moved beyond co-operation, in itself a rare enough phenomenon, worldwide. Both the fishermen and fishermen's association have actively participated in the enforcement of management measures under the self-regulatory scheme they themselves have established. The authors discuss this scheme in further detail in the following sections in this paper, with examples.
