Japan to cut quotas on smaller tuna catches for 25 prefectures

August 3, 2017

TOKYO- Japan 's Fisheries Agency said Wednesday it will cut this season's catch quotas on smaller Pacific bluefin tuna for 25 prefectures, including Hokkaido and Miyagi, aiming to preserve stocks of the fish.

The move comes after the country's catches of Pacific bluefin tuna weighing less than 30 kilograms near shores totaled 2,365.4 tons in the previous season ended in June, far above its limit of 1,884.7 tons.

If Japan as a country with a large tuna catch continues to exceed its limit, it may face a strong international backlash, pundits said.

The agency imposes catch limits by prefecture. For the first time, it will invoke a rule to subtract the previous season's excess amount of catches from the next season's quotas.

In the previous season, many prefectures failed to keep to their limits, due to increased bycatches.

This season, Nagasaki will get the largest quota cut of 31.4 tons, followed by Toyama with a drop of 16.7 tons.

Miyagi, Chiba , Niigata and Ishikawa will see their limits reduced by over 10 tons, while Hokkaido has a cut of 1.2 tons.

Hiroshima , which had a quota of zero last season, slightly exceeded the limit due to a bycatch. This season, it will have a quota of 0.1 ton, and last season's excess amount will be subtracted from the quota.

The quota cuts will not cover 14 of 39 prefectures with coastal fishing that did not reach their catch limits last season, including Fukushima and Tokyo. Jiji Press