Japan Today
national

Port in Tottori striving to save commercial coastal fishing

16 Comments
By Kentaro Kogetsu

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.

16 Comments
Login to comment

Stop overfishing and maybe the fish will start to increase-depletion of stocks is the main problem!

-19 ( +6 / -25 )

More of a lack of fishermen than a lack of fish.

11 ( +17 / -6 )

According to the central government's Fisheries Agency, there were roughly 70,000 coastal fishermen in Japan in 2021, down more than 40 percent from over 120,000 in 2010. A recent study by the Tottori prefectural government found that the number in Sakaiminato fell to 51 in 2022 from around 90 a decade earlier.

Sounds to me that fewer people want to take on the risks involved with being a small time fisherman.

It's a tough job, and not a stable income, not to mention the costs involved with outfitting a boat and paying for ever increasing costs for fuel

14 ( +15 / -1 )

kurisupisuToday  05:20 pm JST

Stop overfishing 

If one actually reads the article the cause is not over-fishing. But on that topic;

"This statistic shows the world's leading fishing nations in 2020, based on capture production. China caught about 11.8 million metric tons of fish in that year."

https://www.statista.com/statistics/240225/leading-fishing-nations-worldwide-2008/#:~:text=This%20statistic%20shows%20the%20world's,of%20fish%20in%20that%20year.

13 ( +13 / -0 )

Well, there seems to be one reason for the decline in coastal fishing mentioned right here in the article: "But it has long been on the wane due to the general decline in Japan's fisheries and because it is prone to being affected directly by marine pollution, land reclamation and red tide, among others."

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Sakaiminato isn't exactly the easiest place in Chugoku to get to. With no other jobs except jockeying a combini cash register why would anyone stick around unless they're retired.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

"But it has long been on the wane due to the general decline in Japan's fisheries and because it is prone to being affected directly by marine pollution, land reclamation and red tide, among others."

Forgot to mention the main culprit, of course, OVERFISHING and not allowing the stocks to replenish.

-12 ( +5 / -17 )

A market that draws "100 people" a few times a year is not going to save anyone.

It's a tough job, and not a stable income, not to mention the costs involved with outfitting a boat and paying for ever increasing costs for fuel

The risk here is that the public purse steps in and pays for all those things, instead of paying for other forms of development and retraining. The government bought the whalers a huge new ship, in spite of there being no proportionate demand for its catch.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Rick Stein did something similar in Cornwall, opening up a chain of restaurants. Sakaiminato needs a TV chef.

quote: by inserting a spike into their hindbrain and thoroughly draining them of blood, preventing muscle twitches that build up lactic acid and ammonia.

Maybe leave that bit out of the adverts.

COP28 is targeting eco-unfriendly food production, but that may work in favour of owners and their small boats. It's the floating fish factories that empty the oceans and they are likely to be targeted first. Hopefully they will also end the massacre of sharks, killed for their fins for the Chinese market. Small catch fisherman may be protected alongside native groups, as it would non-PC to stop them. That said, Brexit wiped out a lot of UK fisherman who had expected to benefit from it, so relying on politicians isn't always successful.

Fishfarming is a horror show of pollutants, diseases and lice. Depleted wild fish populations may be the easiest to reboot. They produce vast numbers of eggs, expecting to lose 99.99% of them. Harvesting these, growing them to a decent size in a protected environment, and then releasing them, can really bulk up the numbers. Much faster than simply not fishing, as the juvenile mortality in the wild is so high.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I’m sorry but most of Tottori is a bit of a dump, can see it’s seriously in decline. Doubt I will ever go again but on the few occasions I did it became worse each time.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Most old Japanese fishing towns are decaying, decrepit and dying. Tottori is by far the worst plus sea creatures are extremely over exploited here.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

A little fishing village near me has seen some renewal by foreigners buying older minshukus etc. and refurbishing them.

My wife just bought one quite cheaply.

We needed to have scaffolding around the house to fix the things Japanese dont fix to their homes.

The neighbour complained because an area of 10 centimeters of scaffold footing had encroached on her line of property.

When I pointed out the amount of rusted metal and assorted detritus laying alongside her home impeding her movement, she replied "My house, my gomi {rubbish} ".

Well, you old cow, with attitudes like that you wont be welcoming many new commers will you !

I havent seen Tottori but I suspect similar old cows may be there,

Japan is aging before my eyes and its apparent a new influx of migrants, even fishermen/women , is needed to revitalize....an infusion of fresh blood, if you will....or the future is one of old cows complaining about everything.

Note to self : Revenge is a dish best served cold

3 ( +4 / -1 )

As much as I like this kind of small fishing ports, and wish that they would thrive, I think it is hard to turn back time. Fishing is a tough job that doesn't pay well, and I can understand that it is a not attractive for young people to take it up and remain in these quickly graying towns.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites