The eel exporting industry in China started later than that in Taiwan and was behind Taiwan. However, this situation has been changed in recent years. China has become the world largest eel exporting country in the world. Japan has the largest demand of eel and eel products in the world and importing volume of the processed eel products from China has been expanding. This research investigates the factors which bring the competitive advantages for the Chinese eel exporting industry on quantitatively and qualitatively analyse and draws some useful information of its future development.

The market share and RCA of Chinese living eel products in Japanese market is lower than that of Taiwanese living eel products, but the index of Chinese processed eel products in Japan is greater than that of Taiwanese. The eel processing industry is a labour intensive industry, and labour cost is much cheaper in China than other countries and regions such as Taiwan. This is believed the main reason that gives the Chinese eel processing industry a competitive advantage in the world. According to the field study and investigation in China, we also found: 1. China is shifting its exporting mode from living eel concentration to processed eel concentration. 2. Small size eel growing plants and eel processing enterprises, which focus on exporting business, are now integrating into the eel production chain in this industry. Because of this integration and formation of business clusters, massive production and economy of scale are achieved. Meanwhile, these small size eel producers have been secured and are able to access to the foreign markets such as Japan. Moreover, the integration strategy in the Chinese eel industry also reduces the costs in the supply chain and logistics, improves the efficiency in business operation and management, helps in allocating all sorts of resources affectively, secures the product quality and safety, and improves productivity. So the reasons for the improved competitiveness in the Chinese eel exporting industry not only arises from the usage of cheaper labour, but also arises from vertical integration strategy in this industry. We propose that the Chinese eel exporting industry shall maintain this vertical integration strategy in the future.

The paper gives a typical case of Laobagang Laver Association which locates Laobagang Town, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, China. Nantong is a coastal city near Yangzi River and is famous with the production of laver. We use an economic model to analysis the economic efficiency of the Association and briefly introduce its development and function. From the case studies, we draw the following conclusions. The Laver Association can raise the income of farmers and is favorable to local economic development. First, the Association can change decision-making behavior of farmers from decision-making behavior of individual maximum profit to the association’s maximum profit decision-making and the rational equilibrium of individual is translated into the cooperative rational equilibrium and thus prevents the excessive competition between producers. Second, the Association improves the economic growing by reducing the transaction cost. Third, the Association improves the negotiation strength of the farmers and reduces the competition between farmers. Fourth, the Association can save the information collecting cost of farmer. The author thinks when the fisherman’s income increase slowly and there is excessive competition today among fisherman, the government should encourage for developing the fisherman’s association in order to protect the fisherman’s interests and promote the sustainable development of fisheries economy of China.

Edible whale products distributed in the Japanese market are composed of the following categories: a) By-products of whales caught in the Antarctic Ocean and the northwest Pacific Ocean for scientific purposes, b) Small cetaceans caught by small type-coastal whaling, c) Minke whales caught by small-type coastal whaling off the coast of Kushiro and Sanriku for scientific purposes, d) Small cetaceans caught by drive and hand-harpoon fisheries, and e) Incidental by-catches from fixed set nets. The supply of these products has increased in recent years and the reason for this is certain to be the expansion of scientific whaling activities both on the high seas and along the Japanese coastline. Here we review how these edible whale products are disseminated within Japan.

The aim of this paper is to highlight the marketing system of Chambo (Oreochromis spp.) which is the most economically valuable fish in Lake Malawi. It will focus mainly on the processing, distribution channel, pricing, marketing facilities and sales promotion with the over all goal of improving marketing efficiency of chambo fish (4 P’s of the marketing mix). Chambo production from Lake Malawi is declining therefore efficient marketing is the only way to maximize income is to improve the quality of their products and explore new marketing ways. At the moment there are primary, secondary and terminal (urban) markets where the fish has to pass through hence the number of middlemen is high and tends to affect the consumer price. Therefore new marketing strategy must be adopted to ensure fishermen get a good economic return as well as enable consumers buy the chambo at a reasonable price to increase its consumption. Production of value added products and direct marketing would help achieve this. It was also revealed that marketing of chambo faced a number of problems that need to be addressed. These include lack of processing and storage facilities, lack of marketing standards and sanitary conditions, seasonal fluctuation in price and lack of financial capital Organization of fishermen into marketing groups would enable direct sale of fisheries products to super markets or retailers while provision of ice plants and processing plants would help produce value added products. Marketing regulations and information must be accessed by all stakeholders in the industry.

Japan as a global seafood powerhouse with large imports has been reinventing its seafood custom. Whilst there is extensive research about seafood consumption, seafood imports and regional preferences, research into consumer evaluation of seafood based on product attributes, country of origin attributes and impact of ethnocentrism on seafood evaluation has been limited within the context of Japan. This research addresses these deficiencies by researching consumer evaluations of various product attributes of seafood of imported vs. domestic origin, regional variations in evaluation and explore the phenomenon of ethnocentrism and its effects on domestic purchasing behavior. The study presents the results of a survey among 122, 108 and 126 respondents from Tokyo, Osaka and Hiroshima respectively. The findings reveal on overall positive image of imported seafood relative to those of domestic origin. Even seafood is deeply attached to the Japanese culture; none of the sub samples appears highly ethnocentric. Regional comparison reveals that on average most ethnocentric consumers was from Tokyo and Osaka. Moreover, consumer ethnocentrism and intention to buy domestic seafood has positive relationship. Japanese consumers evaluate seafood based on product attributes. Cultural sensitivity and ethnocentrism were not made direct impact on evaluation of imported seafood.

In order to understand the behaviour of fishermen in allocating of gear, the study on the temporal dynamics of landings and gear allocation was conducted in Pelabuhanratu Bay, Indonesia. Five types of gear were used to capture eight main target species of the small-scale fisheries of Pelabuhanratu Bay. Two unique gear types were defined based on the landing species composition by gear: single-target species gear (hand lines and fixed gillnets) and multi-target species gear (seine nets, outboard gillnets and lift nets). The results showed that both monthly pattern of landings and gear allocations fluctuated temporally. Except for hand lines, most types of gear allocation were concentrated more intensively during the dry season, coinciding with the increase of target species landings. The monthly gear allocations of multi-target species gear were significantly correlated with the landings. No significant correlation between the single-target species gear allocation and landing dynamics was observed. In order to minimize the uncertainty of landings, depending on types and flexibility of vessel activities, fishermen have developed different behaviors. In short-term periods (monthly), depending on the gear types, fishermen responded to the dynamics of landings by reducing fishing operations or changing the target species. In long-term periods, depending on the flexibility of vessel, fishermen switched to operate other gear.

In the Southeast Asia, decentralization of coastal resource management has progressed rapidly, while people’s and resource users’ participation in the decision-making process of resource management has increased. Many countries of this region have made enormous effort to explore a wide variety of decentralized and participatory approaches. Community-based approach is regarded as the most effective tool to achieve sustainability of resources, scatter efficiency of resource allocation, and bring equity of resource distribution. However, there arises a pressing need to further develop CBRM models, due to drastic changes in social and economic environments of coastal fisheries. This paper has three purposes. Firstly, institutional development of coastal resource management will be focused, including decentralization, participation and increasing role of local governments. Secondly, the development of CBRM models will be discussed in depth, referring to the past and present experiences of CBRM projects. The last part of this paper describes the institutional frameworks of decentralized and participatory approaches, and the mechanism of sharing responsibility between central and local levels. The final goal of this paper is to identify a new direction of CBRM approaches in the Southeast Asia.

In Indonesia, community-based fisheries management (CBFM) has been developed since long time ago and rooted from traditional fishing communities, which are roughly scattered in many islands of Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Maluku, Papua, and Nusa Tenggara Barat. However, it is necessary to examine to what extent the legal framework recognizes their existence. A tracing of the evolution of the legal framework of CBFM can be divided into four periods: the colonization period, the post-independence period, the New Order period, and the Reforms period. The result shows that CBFM is not sufficiently recognized by the formal laws yet, although the central government has started to develop the CBFM system. Therefore, this system is a de facto system in local area. However, without explicit recognition in the formal national laws, the existence of CBFM system is weak. The weakness of CBFM’s legal position may lead to the existence of de facto CBFM system vulnerable. Thus, this CBFM system becomes too dependent on the local government policy. If the local governments are willing to recognize and develop CBFM, it will be positive for the future of CBFM. Otherwise may threaten CBFM. Accordingly the legal reform is necessary to make CBFM de jure exist.

Decentralization is one of the important issues that Thailand has emphasized recently. The Thai government has established a Sub-district organization to decentralize authority and delegate responsibilities from central to local levels, namely, Sub-district Administrative Organization (Ao.Bo.To.-in Thai). Even if the decentralization process is going on, Ao.Bo.To. is becoming a management body in coastal resource management at local level. Local people are encouraged to be involved in the decision making process for community development and the self-management of local resources within their own territory.

In the case of KhaoThong Sub-District, Krabi Province, the Ao.Bo.To. and local people cooperate together in terms of development for their community. The leaders of the villages and the Sub-district have the authority to monitor both land and sea boundaries, according to the announcement of the proclaimed area by the Sub-district authority. They can enforce measures against any illegal activities by following the appropriate laws. Therefore, boundary self-management is set up to protect their coastal area and local resources. This study focuses on the mechanism that makes cooperation between the Ao.Bo.To. and local people efficient in community development. The practical process of planning derives from agreement of all related occupation groups in the community. The people can participate in community development by discussion to arrive at a consensus on management measures. Lessons learned from this case study will delineate the mechanism that will effect the cooperation between the Ao.Bo.To. and local people in their community development and also in coastal resource management.

Management and Exploitation Area (AME) for Benthic Resources is the most innovative management tool in Chilean fisheries (Bernal, 1999) inspired by the CBFM concept. With good results in the pioneer regions, AME has begun to expand to all over the country. However, impact of regional status on AME is not investigated much. In particular, it is recognized that region 10^th has unique characteristics that may affect implementation of AME. Considering these unique characteristics of the Region 10^th, this study set objectives as: a) to determine strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Region 10^th for implementing AME, b) to clarify perception and concerns of users to develop AME and c) to identify elements presents in the fishers’ organizations that influence the implementation of AME. One hundred fifteen (115) coastal villages in Region 10^th were surveyed using key informant interview. SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) and Spearman bivariate correlation were used for analysis.

This region is under favorable conditions for developing benthic fishery. It constitutes a major producer of benthic resources of the country with a large number of benthic resource’s users. A weakness of this region is that, a large number of fishers’ organizations located in the same fishing ground which have been causing problems to allocate areas available for AME. AME usually is located next to the fishing villages. But in this case, it is relocated in different positions away from the aggregated fishing villages that increasing and stabilizing of marketing conditions. Lack of appropriate governmental support at the beginning of the projects is a threat of this region. Main concerns of beneficiaries in implementing AME are: cost of surveillance, improve marketing activities and illegal capture. Key factors for implementing AME are: effective exclusion of the areas, stabilization and improving of marketing, training and empowering communities.

The fishers and communities of St. Anthony area had to adjust the cod collapse in Atlantic Canada of early 1990’s. During this time, it has become obvious that not only fishery but also the area cannot survive some resource changes.

Today, the collapse of cod is already regarded as a thing of the past and fishers and fisheries have arrived at the new stage and become relatively stable. While the number of fishers is increasing, those of enterprises and fishing vessels, which are almost small, are decreasing. Fishers’ incomes have risen because cod fishery was replaced snow crab fishery.

For the future, industries and fisheries should become diversity and flexible in order to maintain fishery as well as the area.

In the early 1990s, some ten Akkeshi fishermen in their 30s, after mass die-offs of cultured oysters, started a forestation project in the river basin of Akkeshi Lake, in hope of revitalizing the coastal environment. Their activities are characterized with: (1) voluntary motivations acquired through participatory surveys on coastal environment, (2) institutional support from the municipal government, and (3) establishing partnership with an organic food company in Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Weaknesses of their activities include (1) lack of cooperation with other stakeholders such as farmers and governments of higher levels than municipality, as well as (2) lack of mechanism to make the best of scientific knowledge to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the project. In order to lead the fishermen’s forestation project to solid environment conservation of the coastal zone, promoting participation and enhancing cooperation of every stakeholder including public institutions, local communities, and entrepreneurs are most needed, in addition to establishing partnership with the municipality.

Coral reef eco-system sustains reef fisheries. However, conflicts between the eco-system conservation and the fisheries development would spread. This paper considers the conflicts through the cases of MPAs, coral reef conservation and eco-tourism in Fiji and Okinawa. When deciding the size of MPAs, we need to balance conserving bio-diversity and ensuring enough fishing grounds. While obtaining quantitative spill-over effects through scientific research, we should start participatory adaptive management to decide the size of MPAs. For the restoration of the damaged coral reefs, conservation may come first and anthropogenic disturbances to the coral reefs should be eliminated as much as possible. The co-existence of human and coral reefs, however, is also another important goal for the Asia-Pacific people. Eco-tourism in Fiji needs to be within the carrying capacity and have minimized impacts on fishing and food culture in the villages.