Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has cast a long shadow over Japan’s fishing industry with the schedule for bilateral fishery negotiations on salmon and trout yet to be set, while an international conference to discuss saury resource management has been postponed.
Due to supply concerns, prices of imported Russian marine products are also expected to rise. The impact of Russia’s military aggression is likely to spread to households, too.
“If nothing is done, we won’t be able to catch chum salmon this spring,” lamented Katsuya Matsuura, 63, the owner of a 13-ton vessel that belongs to the Nemuro Fishermen’s Cooperative Association in Hokkaido.
Chum salmon are caught from spring to early summer and are popular as a high-end fish variety with more fat than salmon landed in autumn.
Matsuura’s ship usually sails to the Pacific Ocean in early April, but he has been unable to make plans this year because the schedule for Japan-Russia fishery negotiations has not been nailed down.
Based on the premise that salmon and trout belong to the country in which they were born, an agreement between both governments is necessary to allow Japanese fishery businesses to catch these fish even within 200 nautical miles of Japan. In light of this, business operators pay fishery cooperation fees to the Russian side in accordance with the size of their catches. Negotiations are usually held in March and April, but as of March 25, the date for this year’s negotiations had yet to be determined…