Japan's offshore bottom trawl fishery has experienced a decline in catch and number of vessels due to the deterioration of the external business environment, such as the establishment of the 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), competition with foreign fishing vessels such as China, and the strengthening of resource management systems. On the other hand, the offshore bottom trawl plays an important role in supplying raw materials to processors and influences the local economy through the purchase of materials, making it a challenge to maintain production. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to clarify management issues from the viewpoint of sustainability of management by examining and analyzing the actual situation of operation restrictions and use of fishing grounds, and the production, processing, and distribution trends in Wakkanai City, Hokkaido, which is a major fishery base. The results of the analysis showed that: (1) fishing grounds have become narrower due to the suspension of operations in Russian waters and multilayered restrictions in coastal areas; (2) changes in main species of fish and operating conditions, as well as soaring production costs, have made profits unstable and made it difficult to establish a reproduction structure that would enable the construction of replacement vessels; and (3) the processing and destination characteristics make it difficult to add high value to the product, making it difficult to improve unit prices.

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Fisheries co-management is defined as a partnership arrangement of local resource users (fishers) and government. First, this paper presents the scale diagram which indicates the ratio of fishers’ autonomous management to governmental public control. Second, this paper discusses the differences between snow crab fisheries in the Japan Sea and the east coast of Canada. There are four conditions which enhance fishers’ autonomous management: 1) Fishers’ organizations, 2) Social and historical maturity of fishers’ autonomy 3) Accuracy of resource assessment, 4) The fishery’s predisposition to quantity control management. Focusing on the fishers’ organization and community, there are important differences between them. The organizations have their purposes and the members are voluntary, whereas the communities’ members are passive. It should be emphasized that there are strong fishers’ organizations and rural communities in Japan. Canadian fishers are less likely to form strong fishers’ organizations, although there are rural fishery communities like Japan. When fishers’ organizations have strong power and great leadership, the monitoring costs tend to be cheaper than governmental public control. Because all snow crab are traded between fishers and middlemen by public auction in Japan, it is a good and cheap tool for monitoring. Fishers engaged in making their rules, which encourage fishers to obey the autonomous management. While snow crab fishery is managed with TAC and IQ in the east coast of Canada, they are managed only with TAC in the Japan Sea. As Japanese fishers catch various kinds (male, female, and soft-shell male) and qualities of crabs, introducing IQ will be against to the fishers’ detailed self-autonomous management rules.

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Act on the Protection of Marine Resources of 1952 (APMR) bans taking of Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) in inland waters. Exemptions are by special permit issued for propagation or research purposes, as well as by licensed fishery rights. As no fishery rights are currently licensed in inland waters, most of the take of salmon in rivers are by special permit for propagation. Social conditions, however, which justified the ban at the time of lawmaking, has changed significantly. Recently, salmon hatchery projects are experiencing adverse economic conditions and several hatchery operators, usually inland fishery co-operatives (FC), are recruiting sports fishermen to pay to fish under special permit for “research purposes”. Rather than to seek loopholes of law, this paper argues to issue Class 5 Common Fishery Rights for salmon to inland FCs and also revise the APMR to allow sports fishing, which shall be co-managed by the FC pursuant to the Fishery Act. Such arrangement will financially support the hatchery operation of the FCs through collection of fishing fees as well as to help restore the fishing culture and boast the local economy.

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This study aims to clarify the current status of introducing “Smart Devices” in fish farming, focusing on red sea bream (madai) aquaculture in Wakayama Prefecture. In recent years, the promotion of Smart Devices has been advancing in Japan’s fish farming. However, the adoption of smart devices among small-scale entities has not been sufficiently examined. This study is based on interviews and questionnaire surveys conducted with fish farming entities in Wakayama Prefecture from 2022 to 2025. The results showed that large-scale entities have introduced smart feeding systems and similar devices, leading to improvements in labor efficiency. However, many small-scale entities did not introduce smart devices because of high initial costs. Aging fish farmers were interested in labor-saving tools such as power-assist suits.

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Survey on activities of Japanese inland fishery cooperatives in 2022 outsourced from outside institutions, organizations, or individuals was conducted in order to clarify their true state. The results showed that 71.0% of inland fishery cooperatives (355 out of 500) had conducted various activities requested from outside. The types of activities and their percentages of cooperatives that conducted activities in descending order of percentage (> 5%) were as follows: fish release (experience events) (35.4%), riparian cleanups (34.8%), riparian mowing (22.2%), life-science workshops on freshwater organisms and their habitat environment (16.0%), fish stock enhancement (13.8%), fishing classes (13.4%), fishing tournaments (11.4%), riparian ecosystem conservation (9.6%), and forest conservation (5.4%). The types of clients of activities were as follows: local municipalities, prefectures, the national government, private companies, schools, kindergartens, local organizations, local communities, individual anglers, angler groups, and associations of inland fishery cooperatives, among which local municipalities and prefectures showed the largest proportion. Therefore, the results indicate that Japanese inland fishery cooperatives have contribution functions for outside organizations such as local residents and local governments etc. Approximately half (49.1%) of activities were conducted based on requests from outside that cooperative had appealed for the need to conduct activities. Thirty-two-point four percent of cooperatives conducting activities (162 out of 500) received money as compensation for conducting from clients and the amount averaged 998,395 yen.

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In recent years, the catch of sand lance in the Seto Inland Sea has been rapidly decreasing. Hyogo Prefecture is a major production area of sand lance, and “kugini”, a local dish, is particularly important socially and culturally. In this study, we conducted interviews with fishermen belonging to the Ikuhaura Fisheries Cooperative Association (FCA) in Awaji City and the Boze FCA in Himeji City to clarify how the rapid decline in sand lance catches has affected fishing entities and fishermen’s livelihood. The results showed that the decline in sand lance catch has had a serious impact on the management of fishing entities and on the livelihoods of fishermen and that differed between two FCAs due to the difference of the variety of fishing activities that they operate. Fishermen of Ikuhaura FCA are in a situation where they cannot make enough income without working part-time jobs unrelated to fishing. Despite the sharp decline in income due to the low catch of sand lance, fishermen have not received support such as income compensation and have been trying to make a living through self-help efforts. If fishing closures and bans continue for a long time, there is a risk that fishermen will withdraw from the fishing industry. In order to ensure the survival of local fishers, it is urgent to grasp the detailed situation of small-scale fishing entities, which have different circumstances depending on the type of fishing they operate, and to take the support measures that each entity needs.

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