Japanese Fishers Hit Hard by High Crude Oil Prices

Tokyo, April 19 (Jiji Press)–High crude oil prices reflecting the turmoil in the Middle East have hit the Japanese fishing industry hard, including through surges in costs for fuel and related equipment. The owner of a company in the city of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, which has six longline tuna fishing boats for distant-water operations, said, “We used to spend about 130 million yen on fuel per ship a year, but fuel prices have now jumped two to three times in South Africa, where our boats are refueled.” Revenue from tuna caught is almost offset by fuel costs, the company owner added, expressing concern over the situation. “Our bonito boats sail for days to find fishing grounds, but many of them now return early as fuel is expensive,” a fishing industry official in the city of Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture, eastern Japan, said. In the southwestern city of Kagoshima, bonito fishing boats are sometimes unable to sail out due to a lack of bait. An official explained that high fuel prices are preventing purse seine fishing boats that catch Japanese anchovy, a bait for bonito, from going out to the sea. A fisher in the city of Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, who catches mackerel, horse mackerel, Japanese Spanish mackerel and other fish using fixed nets has also been impacted. Prices of styrofoam containers used to ship fish hauls continue rising, and it is becoming difficult to secure crude oil-based ship paints, the fisher said. Distribution networks for natural fish are more complicated than those for other foods, making it difficult for fishing operators to pass on higher costs caused by rising fuel prices to consumers. Industry organizations in the country have asked the government for emergency aid to help fishery operators weather their ongoing plights. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]