According to local news agency a Japanese skipjack tuna fishery has entered full assessment for certification under the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard. It is said that the Tosakatsuo Suisan Japan pole and line skipjack tuna fishery is the second Japanese fishery and the first skipjack tuna fishery in the world to enter assessment. If successful, certification will allow tuna from the fishery to bear the MSC eco-label.
This Japanese tuna fishery was started in the 1950s and currently comprises 43 distant-water vessels although only 28 vessels are currently fishing. It is said that the fishery is seasonal and, from November to May fishes in the south Pacific moving further north and east of Japan between September and October. The fishers work with a pole and line technique which produces high quality fish for market. Hiroyuki Myojin, President of Tosakatsuo Suisan expressed that for over 200 years, it has operated in Kochi’s fertile fishing ground, fishing for skipjack tuna that migrate along the Kuroshio current, using the traditional pole-and-line method, from small boats worked with a scull.
Myojin informed that MSC certification would be their last hope to save Japan’s proud tradition of skipjack tuna pole-and-line fishing from extinction and preserve it for generations to come. Kozo Ishii, MSC’s Programme Director for Japan told that skipjack tuna is an iconic fish for Japanese people and I hope that Tosakatsuo Suisan’s application for the MSC programme will lead to certified sustainable catch and use of this fishery.
