Trade policy review report by the secretariat

5.2  Fisheries

5.2.1  Features

1.1.  According to the Japan Fisheries Agency in MAFF, Japan has 4.47 million km² of territorial waters (12 nm) plus the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) (200 nm) which would give it the sixth largest EEZ in the world.¹⁶⁴ This area includes some of the richest and most varied fishing grounds in the world. In 2012, Japan was the seventh biggest producer of capture fisheries and the eleventh of aquaculture in the world with a total catch of 4.8 million tonnes in 2011, valued at ¥1,421 billion.¹⁶⁵ Total production has been declining for some time for several reasons including declines in some stocks¹⁶⁶ – such as the significant decline of Pacific sardine catch in Japan's EEZ – and reduction of the far-seas fleets and limited access to the EEZs of other countries. Furthermore, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami severely damaged the fisheries sector and the subsequent accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plants raised concerns about food safety of fisheries' products. Total fisheries-related damage was estimated at ¥1.26 trillion¹⁶⁷ and the prefectures worst affected accounted for 21% of total marine fisheries and aquaculture production in 2011.¹⁶⁸

1.2.  Japan is one of the biggest consumers of fish and seafood in the world with one of the highest consumption levels at 54 kg per capita in 2011, although this is considerably lower than the peak of over 70 kg per capita per year in the early 1990s.¹⁶⁹ Despite the decline in consumption, production has declined further and Japan is now a major importer of fish and seafood products (Table 4.10 and Table 4.11).

3. 
   Although Japan is one of the biggest producers and consumers of fishery products, the sector is small compared to the rest of the economy: in 2012 the contribution of fisheries to GDP was less than 0.2% and its contribution to employment was less than 0.3% (Table 4.10). However, it remains economically important for many coastal communities and socially and culturally for the whole country.
   

Table 4.41 Fish in the economy, 2005-13

	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
GDP total (¥ billion)	503,903	506,687	512,975	501,209	471,139	482,384	471,311	473,784	478,075
GDP fisheries (¥ billion)	831	806	850	789	771	735	726	752	..
Employment total (million)	63.56	63.89	64.27	64.09	63.14	62.98	62.89	62.70	53.11
Employment fisheries (million)	0.23	0.22	0.21	0.23	0.20	0.18	0.18	0.16	0.15

.. Not available.

Source: Statistical Year Books and authorities.

Table 4.42 Fisheries production, 2004-12

	Total	Marine							Inland			Whaling
		Total	Fisheries					Culture	Total	Fisheries	Culture
			Total	Pelagic		Offshore	Coastal
	(000 tonnes)											(Number)
2004	5,775	5,670	4,455	535	2,406		1,514	1,215	105	60	45	111
2005	5,765	5,669	4,457	548	2,444		1,465	1,212	96	54	42	121
2006	5,735	5,652	4,470	518	2,500		1,451	1,183	83	42	41	87
2007	5,720	5,639	4,397	506	2,604		1,287	1,242	81	39	42	103
2008	5,592	5,520	4,373	474	2,581		1,319	1,146	73	33	40	84
2009	5,432	5,349	4,147	443	2,411		1,293	1,202	83	42	41	89
2010	5,313	5,233	4,122	480	2,356		1,286	1,111	79	40	39	76
2011	4,766	4,693	3,824	431	2,264		1,129	869	73	34	39	61
2012	4,864	4,798	3,759	458	2,209		1,090	1,040	67	33	34	87
(¥ billion)
2004	1,603	1,500	1,066	169	396		500	434	103	51	52	0^a
2005	1,600	1,498	1,059	162	388		509	439	102	50	52	0
2006	1,606	1,529	1,079	154	400		525	450	78	24	54	0
2007	1,653	1,576	1,127	..	..		..	449	77	23	55	0
2008	1,628	1,543	1,125	..	..		..	418	85	24	61	0
2009	1,470	1,381	972	..	..		..	409	89	26	62	0
2010	1,483	1,400	972	..	..		..	428	83	23	60	0
2011	1,419	1,327	940	..	..		..	387	92	20	72	0
2012	1,418	1,329	916	..	..		..	413	89	18	71	0

.. Not available.

a Values for fisheries production are in billion yen but, according to the authorities, the value of whaling has been ¥200 400 million in recent years which rounding to the nearest billion gives zero.

Source: Statistical Japan Yearbooks and authorities.

1.3.  Marine fisheries account for most production in both value and volume terms. Marine aquaculture contributed around one-fifth of the marine production in volume terms in 2010 but suffered from the 2011 earthquake with total production reduced by nearly 22%. Inland fisheries are small compared to total production and catch has declined considerably over the past decade. However, even though the volume of production of inland aquaculture has also declined, its value has increased as production has focused on higher value products (Table 4.11).

1.4.  For a number of reasons, FAO and OECD statistics differ between each other and with national data, although all three sources indicate similar trends. In terms of species landed in domestic ports, Japan's fisheries' production includes a wide variety, with skipjack and other species of tuna, pelagics (mackerel, herring, etc.), and shellfish and molluscs representing just over 20% each in value terms.

1.5.  According to OECD data, the decline in the catch value (2.8% annual average decline 2005 11) is similar to the decline in the quantity caught (2.7% annual average decline 2005 12) (Table 4.12)¹⁷⁰ indicating that unit prices have not changed much over the past few years.

1.6.  OECD data do not include figures for whaling. According to FAO data, there has also been a decline in the quantity of aquatic mammals caught (Table 4.13).

1.7.  The structure of the fishing fleet has followed the trend in capture, as has the number of people engaged in fisheries. However, the fishing fleet is still dominated by small vessels of less than 5 tonnes and the vast majority of the 89,000 fishing entities are individual management entities (Table 4.14). Of these management entities, approximately half are run by full-time fishermen, although most of the part-time fishermen earn most of their income from fisheries.

Table 4.43 Fisheries landings in Japan, 2005-12

('000 tonnes, ¥ billion)

	Total landings		Tuna		Pellagics		Shellfish, molluscs
	('000 tonne)	(¥ bn)	('000 tonne)	(¥ bn)	('000 tonne)	(¥ bn)	('000 tonne)	(¥ bn)
2005	4,511	1,109	657	226	1,653	190	801	253
2006	4,511	1,103	597	225	1,745	196	717	231
2007	4,436	1,149	636	256	1,631	209	758	231
2008	4,416	1,149	572	256	1,691	221	762	211
2009	4,200	998	517	210	1,591	190	769	188
2010	4,172	994	558	207	1,560	204	740	190
2011	3,859	959	500	196	1,502	194	733	200
2012	3,729	..	522	..	1,472	..	654	..

.. Not available.

Source: OECD (2013), OECD Review of Fisheries: Country Statistics 2013, OECD Publishing, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/rev_fish_stat_en-2013-en.

Table 4.44 Aquatic mammals taken by Japan, 2005-12

Aquatic mammals		2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Blue-whales, fin-whales	(number)	943	1,348	1,020	1,006	1,114	909	569	703
Miscellaneous aquatic mammals	(tonne)	1,652	1,599	1,573	1,154	1,404	932	562	500
Sperm-whales, pilot-whales	(number)	16,140	14,026	13,153	9,155	11,210	6,580	3,284	1,775

Source: FAO Fisheries' statistics database. Viewed at: http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/global-capture-production/query/en [December 2014].

Table 4.45 Structure of fisheries, 2004-12

	Persons engaged ('000)	Registered fishing craft						Total tonnage ('000 tonnes)
		<5 tonnes (number)	5-10 tonnes (number)	10-30 tonnes (number)	30-100 tonnes (number)	100-200 tonnes (number)	Over 200 tonnes (number)
2004	231	282,430	18,524	10,721	729	611	855	1,304
2005	222	278,056	18,025	10,668	656	582	823	1,269
2006	212	273,593	17,802	10,512	614	559	762	1,226
2007	204	266,625	17,674	10,417	588	551	721	1,195
2008	222	259,987	17,370	10,309	558	529	703	1,168
2009	212	252,902	17,058	10,148	522	498	614	1,112
2010	203	247,629	16,811	10,063	503	477	591	1,087
2011	178	225,500	16,097	9,617	464	437	550	1,019
2012	174	226,926	15,956	9,710	463	433	564	1,017

Source: Statistical Yearbooks, and authorities.

1.8.  According to the authorities, the number of registered fishing vessels exceeds the number of persons engaged in fishing for several reasons: one person may have several vessels for different fishing methods, such as one for aquaculture and another for marine capture; the definition of a person engaged in fishing is someone over 15 years old and engaged at sea in fishery works for more than 30 days per year, while someone who does not meet this definition may have one or more registered vessels; and the number of persons engaged in fishing in 2011 and 2012 does not include the three prefectures affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011.