Conflict Pole & Line Tuna Fishermen And Longliners Escalatingff

From The Yomiuri Shimbun

Conflict is intensifying in the Tsugaru Strait between tuna fishermen using the pole-and-line technique and others who use the longline method.

The waters off Tsugaru Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture are known as one of the nation’s prime tuna sites.

The area is particularly well known for the large number of fatty tuna that can be caught in winter - a period when tuna supplies traditionally tend to decrease worldwide.

 

While demand for tuna is growing across the globe, the number of fish caught on the high seas has declined, partly due to the recent high prices for crude oil needed to fuel fishing boats.

This has prompted many tuna fishermen to turn to offshore fishing sites for high-quality tuna. However, this has resulted in many conflicts, as longline boats have intruded into areas where only the pole-and-line method is permitted.

Bluefin tuna unloaded at a port in Omamachi in the Prefecture are known as Oma Maguro (maguro is Japanese for tuna). The record purchase price for an Oma Maguro-branded tuna at Tokyo’s Tsukiji wholesale market’s first sale of the year was 20.2 million yen (USD 0.2 million). Usually, this brand of tuna is traded at about double the price of its imported counterpart. In June last year, the town's fisheries co-operative registered the brand name as a regional trademark.

Small fish eaten by tuna are abundant in the Tsugaru Strait, where currents from the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean meet. It is not unusual for bluefin tuna weighing more than 300 kilograms to be caught off the peninsula.
 

The problems have arisen in areas where longline fishing is banned to protect the traditional pole-and-line method.

A prison term of up to one year or a fine of up to 500,000 yen can be imposed on repeated violators under the Fisheries Law.

In August, one of about 80 longline fishing boats belonging to the local fisheries co-op in Omamachi, based in the Shimokita Peninsula area, was chased and surrounded by dozens of pole-and-line fishing boats belonging to a local co-op of the Tsugaru Peninsula.

On Oct. 10, about a dozen pole-and-line boats surrounded a longline fishing vessel and cut its lines. In addition, fishermen on the pole-and-line boats used radio messages to demand in strong terms that the longline vessel leave the area.

Hajime Yanagitani, head of the Minmaya fishing co-op in Sotogahamamachi, a town on the Tsugaru Peninsula side of the prefecture, expressed deep concern over the issue, saying, “If this situation continues, the pole-and-line method will become obsolete.” About 60 pole-and-line fishing boats belong to the local co-op.

Longline boats were first spotted off the prefecture in autumn last year. Vessels belonging to the Omamachi co-op have usually fished in areas off Shimokita Peninsula.

Around the same time, a large number of fishing boats from other parts of the prefecture, and from Hokkaido, have been gathering in the fishing areas.

Longline boats use lines measuring up to 3,000 meters long. However, as the sea areas have become increasingly congested, boats' lines sometimes get entangled, which adversely affects catches.

Local fishermen said fishing boats headed for the sea off Tsugaru Peninsula are increasingly avoiding the crowded areas due to this problem.

The Aomori prefectural government has demanded that fishermen and others concerned comply with the rules. In cooperation with the Hokkaido government, the prefectural government dispatches patrol boats to watch for violators and enforce regulations.

But the conflict shows no signs of abating. Tuna fishing is permitted until January off Tsugaru Peninsula and fishermen are busiest in the final few months running up to the end of the season.

“If the conflict escalates, the image of the nationwide [Oma Maguro] brand might be damaged,” an official of the Aomori prefectural government’s fisheries promotion division said.

Similar problems have occurred in succession across the nation.

In Toyama Prefecture, where fishing for buri, or yellowtail snapper, is popular, an association of fishermen using fixed netting asked the Fisheries Agency to take measures two years ago, claiming other fishermen using round-haul nets were catching too many of the fish, forcing down wholesale prices.

An official of the agency said, “Conflicts among fishermen have arisen partly because demand for fish has been growing worldwide.”