Japan Press Weekly

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2011 June 22 - 28 [GREAT EAST JAPAN DISASTER]

‘Special fishery zone’ will further hurt damaged local fishery

The “special fishery restoration zone” scheme proposed by Miyagi Prefectural Governor Murai Yoshihiro cast a shadow over the local fishery industry attempt to restore coastal fishing businesses from the devastating damages caused by the Great East Japan Disaster.

Private company in fishery

Governor Murai’s claim is that fishing rights, the right to be exclusively engaged in fishing for specific species in specific waters for a certain period of time should be given to private enterprises.

To enter into oyster and other forms of aquaculture or into stationary net fishing, it is necessary to apply for the respective licenses. According to the Fisheries Law, fisheries cooperatives should be the first to get the license, followed by companies in which local fishermen are a majority, and then by other corporations, in case there are more than one applicant for the license.

The governor asserts that the order of priority abolished in order to give private corporations the same rights as fishermen’s associations, so as to encourage the entry of private corporations into aquafarming.

The present law allows private corporations to enter into fishery by becoming a member of a fishermen’s association or by establishing a partnership with fishermen.

However, Governor Murai insists on granting fishing rights to private corporations, saying, “Not all corporations accept such conditions. Most of them are reluctant (to enter) because of not being given the fishing rights”(Kahoku Shinpo, May 29).

In a governmental Restoration Design Council meeting, the governor strongly called for creating a special zone which is outside the present framework and succeeded in getting his point included in the first proposal of the council.

The present system concerning the order of priority over fishing rights in coastal fishery is based on the idea that coastal resources should reasonably be used by fishing people who live by fishing in the locality, and that distributing and coordinating the rights should be performed by an organization in which most local fishermen participate.

This thinking has been formed and legalized through the long history of coastal fishing. This idea also has increasing importance today when the need is to sustain fishing resources and preserve the marine environment as well as to aim at a sustainable society based on locally recycled resources.

Governor Murai’s proposal discards the principle of giving priority to local fishing people, the longstanding mainstay of coastal fishing, under the guise of the need to recover from the disaster.

Corporate control over fishermen

Murai refers to the need to “achieve higher efficiency when the number of those engaged in fishing is declining” (Kahoku Shinpo, May 12). Citing difficulties in the prefectural fishery industry such as aging of fishermen and use of out-of-date equipment, he stressed the need to “use the strength of the private sector.”

Is it possible for private companies, operating on the “efficiency-first” principle, to enter into fishing around an isolated island with such disadvantageous conditions as most islanders are old and need public assistance? They will be interested only in favorable fishing grounds promising higher profits. If a corporation backed by big capital enters, many fishermen will be placed under its control or just crowded out, with only a few of them hired as wage workers.

If a certain fishing output can be maintained through “efficient” management, most of the profits will be taken away by the enterprises to outside the prefecture. What is worse, profit-first private enterprises will not hesitate to depart once the locality becomes　unprofitable.

In a typical example, a major fishery corporation entering into the aquaculture of silver salmon in Onagawa Town, Miyagi Prefecture 20 years ago pulled out as soon as the sales price dropped, driving many fishermen into bankruptcy.

Historically, coastal fishing arose as occupations supporting local people and the local economy. With the fishermen’s association at the center, local fishermen and residents worked together to keep the coast and the sea bed clean, prevent pollution, and develop and maintain a sustainable fishing environment, including promoting fish-breeding marine ecosystems. Private companies which see fishing grounds as nothing other than something to invest in for short-term gain would have no part in such activities.

The nation’s coastal fishing industry has experienced great difficulties due to large-scale development projects that negatively affected traditional fishing grounds, recent hikes in the price of fuel and fishing equipment, and lowered prices for marine products. It is unrealistic for the fisheries industry, utilizing the productive power of nature, to only seek efficiency and profits.

Extensive impact

The coastal fishery industry underpins Japan’s marine production while the catch from deep-sea and off-shore fishing have been decreasing to a greater extent. This is especially visible in Miyagi Prefecture, where they succeeded in establishing local brands of farmed seaweed and shellfish, such as oysters and scallops. While facing problems associated with an aging population and a severe business situation, local fishermen in collaboration with people in the fishery processing industry have succeeded in protecting their fishing grounds and their communities.

The March 11 disaster delivered a devastating blow to Miyagi’s coastal fishing industry. Many fishermen are struggling to restore their businesses by saying, “As long as the sea exists, we want to live by the sea.”

Miyagi Governor Murai Yoshihiro’s plan to establish a “special zone” will put fishing in the hands of private companies so that the fishermen will become their employees. This tramples on fishermen’s dignity and pride as professionals. Representatives of the Miyagi Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations on June 21 submitted to the governor 14,000 signatures opposing the plan.

The Japan Economic Research Institute, a business circle-funded think tank, after the disaster published a proposal for fishery reform which calls for participation of private companies in the local fishing industry and promotion of the market principle.

The governor’s plan is similar to this proposal, representing the interests of major corporations and ignoring the demands of local fishermen.

Restoration of livelihoods of local fishermen

The disaster has highlighted the fact that the efficiency-seeking “structural reform” policies, promoted by successive cabinets since the days of the former Koizumi Cabinet of the Liberal Democratic Party, have destroyed farming and fishing villages and made localities vulnerable to natural disasters.

For a genuine revitalization of coastal areas, in addition to rebuilding houses and local infrastructure, the national and prefectural governments should urgently provide full support to people in the local fishery industry to regain their fishing boats, aquafarming facilities, and seafood processing facilities, resolve the so-called “double loan” problems, and reestablish the very basis of daily life.