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New hope for endangered eels, Japanese summer delicacy

16 Comments
By Sherry Zheng

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16 Comments
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Pressure on any fish species gives cause for full farming to advance. Although I'm surprised that funding for eel in Japan isn't more readily available. Bluefin Tuna will eventually become a fully farmed species as well. Kinki University I think already achieved this.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Why do Japanese people like unagi? Because we like soy sauce.

That makes no sense.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

Can anybody else see the daftness in this science? The eels are extinct in many areas and are nearly extinct in other areas and these 'geniuses' are only farming them for food. How about farming them and releasing them back into the wild to build up wild stocks again? How about banning the catch of wild eels for a few years to give the wild stocks a chance to recover? Nah, that makes too much sense, doesn't it?

9 ( +12 / -3 )

A well he-ell-ed customer doesn't mind how much it costs to eat the delicacy! Yuk yuk yuk!

If you don't get it....gomen na sai!

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

I hope the company is not. Nonsato

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Good old Japan! Forget about conserving... just keep eating them out of existence and hope farming comes to the rescue.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

@Disillusioned

Why?

If farming becomes main stream then the wild stock will replenish itself through time.

@smithinjapan

As always the ray of sunshine.LoL

Japan is always doing the research and not waiting for some others to come to the rescue.

That is why the complete cultivation methods of bluefins as well as these eels are devised here in Japan and not elsewhere.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

@Triring - If farming becomes main stream then the wild stock will replenish itself through time.

Is that so? How will the eel stocks replenish themselves in areas where they are extinct? Immaculate conception? Daft cat!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Triring - That is why the complete cultivation methods of bluefins as well as these eels are devised here in Japan and not elsewhere.

And, another fail! Japan did not develop this technology at all! As usual, Japan has copied this technology from other countries and call it their own.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@smithinjapanToday  06:29 pm JST

Good old Japan! Forget about conserving... just keep eating them out of existence and hope farming comes to the rescue.

Not just Japan. I think pretty much the almost the whole world but Asia is a lot more than the rest of the world.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It's like those of us in Northern Europe and the UK - our trawlers depleted the numbers of cod in the North Sea so the EU banned fishing them so that they could recover. Why can't the Japanese just do the same - let the numbers recover and stop thinking of their stomachs for once. Let something in the sea go unmolested for a while.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@Disillusioned

Tell me are eels extinct now? If not then they will rejuvenate once the catch of wild population is relieved.

and tell me which nation came up with the full cultivation from embryos of bluefins?

Basically cultivation of various products from the sea started in Japan like the cultivation of kelp, oysters, and various fishes.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Triring: "Japan is always doing the research and not waiting for some others to come to the rescue..."

The rescue... from themselves, and that's the point. Instead of deciding, "Well... for some reason eel is popular in summer, but since it's going extinct because of our overfishing and eating it, we'll stop and let them replenish," they just pray and hope scientists can save their dietary habits. Make no mistake, they're not doing it out of a desire to preserve the species; they're doing it out of a desire to keep an outdated tradition in play because they feel they have no choice in continuing it.

"That is why the complete cultivation methods of bluefins as well as these eels are devised here in Japan and not elsewhere."

Once again, with Japan consuming more than 80% of the former, it is THEM that should cut back and allow the creatures to replenish. Instead, they blame the rest of the world for the remaining percentage, claiming it's "Japanese tradition" while fishing in the Mediterranean or elsewhere, then instead of cutting back wipe their brows and thank the gods scientists will allow them to keep gorging.

Cliffy: "Not just Japan. I think pretty much the almost the whole world but Asia is a lot more than the rest of the world."

Agreed, but on this and tuna it IS almost entirely Japan. And again, they COULD just choose to cutback, but instead just keep eating with a "shouganai" and hope eventually the creatures will be saved... for them to eat.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

How about stop thinking you have the right to eat every single thing in the sea?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

DisillusionedAug. 11 10:17 am JSTCan anybody else see the daftness in this science? The eels are extinct in many areas and are nearly extinct in other areas and these 'geniuses' are only farming them for food. How about farming them and releasing them back into the wild to build up wild stocks again?

The main reason that eel populations worldwide have diminished are because of habitat destruction by man. Dams and waterway construction have interrupted the ability of eels to climb upstream. This has been known for several decades now.

DisillusionedAug. 11 08:28 pm JST@Triring - That is why the complete cultivation methods of bluefins as well as these eels are devised here in Japan and not elsewhere.

And, another fail! Japan did not develop this technology at all! As usual, Japan has copied this technology from other countries and call it their own.

Really? Where do YOU think they were developed?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Good old Japan! Forget about conserving... just keep eating them out of existence and hope farming comes to the rescue.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this wanton excessive eating of animals is not exclusive to Japan. Every single culture and race on the face of this planet is guilty of this habit. In fact, in many cultures, animals are not only faced with the extinction through eating, but through torture and animal cruelty.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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