Japan, 8 Others Agree to Cut 2026 Saury Catch Quota by 5 Pct

Tokyo, April 17 (Jiji Press)–Japan and eight other economies agreed Friday to decrease this year’s catch quota for saury in the northern Pacific by 5 pct year-on-year. The agreement was reached at a meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission, held in the western Japan city of Osaka from Tuesday. Meeting participants also agreed to cut the 2027 quota by 10 pct from the 2026 level. The economies rejected the Japanese government’s proposal of reducing the 2026 catch quota for northern Pacific saury by 10 pct. Tokyo had called for lowering the quota to 182,250 tons from 202,500 tons in 2025 in light of dwindling stocks caused by past overfishing and changes in the marine environment. But the proposal met opposition mainly from China in discussions on resource evaluations prior to the meeting. Japanese annual saury catches exceeded 300,000 tons until around 2007 to 2009, before falling to about 18,060 tons in 2022. Despite rebounding since then, catches remain below 100,000 tons. At the meeting, Tokyo called for reducing catch quotas for chub mackerel and setting a new catch quota for Japanese sardine. Participants agreed to cut the 2026 and 2027 quotas for chub mackerel to 51,000 tons and 45,000 tons, respectively, and to cap Japanese sardine catches at last year’s level. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]