Fishery Management and Mutual Agreement Procedures of Seto Inland Sea Boat Seine Fisheries in Tokushima Prefecture

Abstract

Mass-caught pelagic fish stocks (Sardine, Anchovy etc) have large fluctuations called “dominant species alternation”. The boat seine fisheries mainly target anchovy larvae and juveniles Shirasu in Wadajima area of Tokushima Prefecture. Fishing units in this area process Shirasu to Chirimen by themselves. When the level of summer-autumn spawning type anchovy stock was high, massive investment in their processing equipment was made, but recently their managements are pressed due to that the level of stock is low. The fisheries management organization has carried out suspension of fishing and enlargement of the mesh size as cooperative measures. Equality in the management types between constituent members of the fisheries management organization makes cooperative management easier. Meanwhile, there is concern that cooperative management at the fisheries which utilize fluctuated stocks deprives type of management diversity and makes it difficult to utilize other stocks.