Japan’s proposal for setting country-by-country catch quotas for North Pacific saury was snubbed at an international fisheries meeting that ended Saturday in Sapporo, with China, South Korea and Russia refusing to accept it, officials said.
The eight-member North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), however, agreed to continue talks toward next year’s meeting, with countries including China promising not to increase the number of registered fishing boats, making a stronger commitment than their previous agreement, the officials said.
Japan had proposed setting a total annual quota of 560,000 tons for the seven participating countries plus Taiwan who make up the NPFC, to address concerns over the rapid increase in fishing by China and Taiwan.
Under the proposal, the total quota would be divided among the members based on their past catches. Japan would be allocated 240,000 tons, Taiwan 190,000 tons and China 40,000 to 50,000 tons.
Although Taiwan and the United States supported Japan’s proposal, no specific discussions were held on catch quotas, conference sources said.
Regarding China’s saury operations, all of the other participating economies demanded that it root out illegal fishing boats.
At a news conference after the meeting, Takashi Koya, director-general of the Fisheries Agency’s Resources Management Department, lobbied for stricter management of saury resources and said it was very meaningful that the commission decided to discuss annual catch quotas and fishing boat limits.
The Japan Times LTD.