Japan to revise 70-year-old fishery system to allow in newcomers

They should consider revising some of the other ancient laws that have no relevance in modern society, but we all know that won't be happening any time soon.

Sad thing is more than likely the same politicians who passed these laws 70 years ago are now revising them. Desperate times need desperate measures. I can imagine many of them remember it like yesterday. Would be nice if they included a sustainable quota management system backed up with stiff fines for offenders. A licensing system that funds the management system, maybe in another 70years. The few fish left will appreciate it.

A pal of mine tried his hand at fish farming but couldn't make a profit. He said there were a lot of restrictions he had to deal with and it was quite a headache. He finally bailed it after about five years. Maybe the loosening of controls might help future fisherman/fish farmers.

The clause will not apply if the existing fishery operators are making full use of their fishing grounds.

Ah, there’s always a catch. How about creating bag limits, fish size limits and sanctuaries for fish? Whenever I go to the supermarket the fish section is full of juvenile fish that are not old enough to spawn. A sustainable fishery is not adding more professional fishermen with no bag or size limits. Catch and kill fellas! That’s what Japan has been doing for centuries and then they wonder why their local oceans are deserts full of large jellyfish.

Best thing Japan farming can do is grow its wonderful varieties of yams and potatoes. Safest food left as climate change ruins crops and fisheries collapse from overfishing

This is a brilliant example of the scourge of vested interests and their impact on policy.

Government's role should be to ensure the sustainability of fisheries stocks, through proper, modern fisheries resource management practices.

Although it's taken 70 years to bring forward some small change, a much more thorough overhaul of Japan's fisheries systems is required to put it in line with leaders in the space. Then Japanese fisheries would appear a more attractive line of business to get into.

The difficulty is, these large countries like Japan have larger groups of vested interests, than in smaller places such as Iceland and New Zealand, where fisheries is in far better shape.

Maybe the loosening of controls might help future fisherman/fish farmers.

Well there needs to be a QMS or similar regime in place, to conserve fisheries stocks.

But controls outside of that space should certainly be revised. Laws that simply protect vested interests should all be abolished.