The Pacific Bluefin Tuna (PBT) is an endangered species. Japanese government has been unwilling to take measures to preserve it. Significant numbers of the PBTs gather to the Sea of Japan during June to August for spawning. Every year, without being effectively controlled, purse sein fishing catches most of those PBTs with eggs. Purse seining is the key cause of decreasing PBTs and other fishery resources. The situation is already severe, and we insist that purse seine fishing must be prohibited.

Because the Fishery Agency in Japan has not taken effective measures to manage the resources, the amount of the PBTs has decreased to 3.6 percent of what was initially recorded. Therefore, the PBTs became designated as an endangered species in November, 2014. If purse seining continues to be uncontrolled, next generation fishers will not be able to make living through PBT fishing, and people will not be able to consume wild PBTs   

Every year during spawning seasons, huge amounts of the PBTs which hold eggs get sold in markets, and many of them remain unsold. Their price collapses to the level lower to that of the Yellow Fin Tunas, the Big Eye Tunas, and even imported frozen tunas. Therefore, major fishery companies which use purse seining are driving lives of artisanal fishers into a critical situation. Purse seining that catches excessive amount of fish causing collapse in price must be prohibited, and parent fish must be allowed to spawn for resources to recover.  

The artisanal fishers in islands off the coast of Nagasaki prefecture, Kii and Tsushima, are worried about declining resources and wanted to allow parent fishes to spawn when they gather around the islands. Therefore, since three years ago, the artisanal fishers have decided to prohibit themselves from fishing during the spawning seasons. Despite this effort by the artisanal fishers, purse seining boat owned by major fishery companies such as NISSUI keep catching large amounts of parent fishes in one swoop. As citizens of Japan, we perceive such boisterous doing as inexcusable (Most leisure fishermen cooperate with artisanal fishers in these islands and restrain themselves from fishing during the spawning season.).

Purse seining catches the PBTs by using high-tech sonars to find the PBTs school, and swoop all of them at once with a huge few kilometers sized net. About 50 to 60 percent of the PBTs on the market are caught by only few major fishery companies, causing huge damage to the resources.

When the advanced fishery countries judge that resources cannot be sustained, they place strict regulation to purse seining. Furthermore, they construct a strong management system and strictly monitor purse seining. However, the Japanese Fishery Agency does not follow this international standard.

The Fishery Agency has been unwilling to simulate what would happen with the decrease of parent fishes which is necessary for the resources to recover. Furthermore, they force people to accept the rules that allow the parent fishes to be caught freely. In fact, the Fishery Agency has asked the artisanal fishers to allow the purse seining during the spawning season, because it the only season in which purse seining can catch fishes effectively.

The Fishery Agency continues to claim that they have been managing the resources effectively. If what they say is true, the resources should be recovering but it has not so far. In fact among developed countries, Japan is the only country facing the decrease in the resources.

The Fishery Agency has been neglecting the law set by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries which states that the Fishery Agency must protect and manage the resources effectively. It is likely for the Fishery Agency to continue such behavior.

Fishery resources belong to all people, and should not be confined only to a portion of the major fishery companies and organizations. Fishery resources should support the lives of local fishers and their family as well. They are also connected to tourism revenue from leisure fishing.

We must recognize that our generation is using part of resources from next generation. We have obligation to save the resources, together with beautiful nature in general for our next generation.

Protecting fishery of islands alleviate the decrease in population of the region, and leads to the national defense as well.