272
aquaculture production remains at 1/3 of inland
aquaculture. When focusing on the global aquaculture production, inland aquaculture production
is way ahead of marine aquaculture production.
The state of global aquaculture is profoundly different with that in Japan. Fishery products are
globally utilized, basically, for human consumption as food and for nonfood uses such as feeding
material, oil and feed for aquaculture, etc.
Today, both capture fishery and aquaculture
productions in Japan indicate a gradual decreasing trend. The state of Japanese fishery production is also very different than the state of global
fishery production. The global utilization of
human consumption shows a rising trend, while
on the other hand, nonfood uses indicate a gradual decreasing trend. In addition, the ratio for the
total world production/nonfood uses indicates a
decreasing trend in recent 6 years. On the other
hand, part of nonfood production has been
directed as feed for aquaculture. In the near
future, human direct consumption will increase,
and in this case, the production of nonfood uses
will be influenced strongly by the amount of
human direct consumption.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate fundamental aspects of the relationship between aquaculture and capture fishery production in Japan
viewed in relation with global fisheries.
2
Japan Fishery Products
in the Last Three Decades
First, focusing on the last three decades
1
, between
1979 and 1988, the total production has been
fluctuating at 1,000 × 10
4
tons level; since then,
between 1989 and 1998, production has been
dropping down to less than 1,000 × 10
4
tons continuously from 1991 reaching 668 × 10
4
tons in
1998. Since then, fishery production has continued to shrink, and in the third decade between
1991 and 2008, it reached 559 × 10
4
tons in 2008,
and since then, the decreasing trend continued
irretrievably, fluctuating between 500 × 10
4
tons
and 400 × 10
4
tons during the last 4 years (Fig. 1).
Generally speaking, Japanese fishery production
is basically on a downward trend since 1988, and
especially, in the last 5 years, the mean annual
fishery production is 457 × 10
4
tons which correspond to 37 % of the peak level in 1984
(1,282 × 10
4
tons).
Here, we will just make a short mention about
inland capture fishery and aquaculture production
because of its small volume of production. In 2012,
inland capture fishery production was 3.3 × 10
4
tons
and aquaculture production was 3.4 × 10
4
tons.
Since 1979, both productions showed a decreasing
trend with capture fishery having slightly less average rate of decrease compared with aquaculture.
In Japan, although inland capture fishery and
aquaculture account for only a handful of fishery
productions (66,902 tons in 2012), they are important traditional regional activities in each region.
Large amounts of fishery products are also
imported from many foreign countries reaching
459 × 10
4
tons in 2012, in which 335 × 10
4
tons
were utilized as food and 124 × 10
4
tons as nonfood
use in Japan. The amount of imported fishery products is almost equivalent to domestic production.
3
Global Fishery Product Trend
According to preliminary data for 2011 (SOFIA
2012), global capture fishery and aquaculture
production supplied 154 million tons of fish in
2011 of which about 131 million tons were destined as food for human consumption (excluding
aquatic plants) (Fig. 2). For the past 5 years,
marine capture fisheries have been gradually
decreasing from 80.2 to 77.4 × 10
6
tons, while on
the other hand, aquaculture shows a gradual
increasing trend from 16.0 to 19.3 × 10
6
tons.
From the point of view of human consumption,
the demand for aquatic products has been increasing from 17.4 to 18.6 kg per capita food fish supply. As pointed out in SOFIA 2012, fish and
fishery products represent a very valuable source
of protein and essential micronutrients for
balanced nutrition and good health. In the future,
it is anticipated that human consumption of fishery products will increase worldwide.
1 Refer for information about Year books of annual statistics on capture and aquaculture production during 1980 to
2013. Statistics and information department, Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tokyo (in Japanese)
T. Yamane
aquaculture production remains at 1/3 of inland
aquaculture. When focusing on the global aquaculture production, inland aquaculture production
is way ahead of marine aquaculture production.
The state of global aquaculture is profoundly different with that in Japan. Fishery products are
globally utilized, basically, for human consumption as food and for nonfood uses such as feeding
material, oil and feed for aquaculture, etc.
Today, both capture fishery and aquaculture
productions in Japan indicate a gradual decreasing trend. The state of Japanese fishery production is also very different than the state of global
fishery production. The global utilization of
human consumption shows a rising trend, while
on the other hand, nonfood uses indicate a gradual decreasing trend. In addition, the ratio for the
total world production/nonfood uses indicates a
decreasing trend in recent 6 years. On the other
hand, part of nonfood production has been
directed as feed for aquaculture. In the near
future, human direct consumption will increase,
and in this case, the production of nonfood uses
will be influenced strongly by the amount of
human direct consumption.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate fundamental aspects of the relationship between aquaculture and capture fishery production in Japan
viewed in relation with global fisheries.
2
Japan Fishery Products
in the Last Three Decades
First, focusing on the last three decades
1
, between
1979 and 1988, the total production has been
fluctuating at 1,000 × 10
4
tons level; since then,
between 1989 and 1998, production has been
dropping down to less than 1,000 × 10
4
tons continuously from 1991 reaching 668 × 10
4
tons in
1998. Since then, fishery production has continued to shrink, and in the third decade between
1991 and 2008, it reached 559 × 10
4
tons in 2008,
and since then, the decreasing trend continued
irretrievably, fluctuating between 500 × 10
4
tons
and 400 × 10
4
tons during the last 4 years (Fig. 1).
Generally speaking, Japanese fishery production
is basically on a downward trend since 1988, and
especially, in the last 5 years, the mean annual
fishery production is 457 × 10
4
tons which correspond to 37 % of the peak level in 1984
(1,282 × 10
4
tons).
Here, we will just make a short mention about
inland capture fishery and aquaculture production
because of its small volume of production. In 2012,
inland capture fishery production was 3.3 × 10
4
tons
and aquaculture production was 3.4 × 10
4
tons.
Since 1979, both productions showed a decreasing
trend with capture fishery having slightly less average rate of decrease compared with aquaculture.
In Japan, although inland capture fishery and
aquaculture account for only a handful of fishery
productions (66,902 tons in 2012), they are important traditional regional activities in each region.
Large amounts of fishery products are also
imported from many foreign countries reaching
459 × 10
4
tons in 2012, in which 335 × 10
4
tons
were utilized as food and 124 × 10
4
tons as nonfood
use in Japan. The amount of imported fishery products is almost equivalent to domestic production.
3
Global Fishery Product Trend
According to preliminary data for 2011 (SOFIA
2012), global capture fishery and aquaculture
production supplied 154 million tons of fish in
2011 of which about 131 million tons were destined as food for human consumption (excluding
aquatic plants) (Fig. 2). For the past 5 years,
marine capture fisheries have been gradually
decreasing from 80.2 to 77.4 × 10
6
tons, while on
the other hand, aquaculture shows a gradual
increasing trend from 16.0 to 19.3 × 10
6
tons.
From the point of view of human consumption,
the demand for aquatic products has been increasing from 17.4 to 18.6 kg per capita food fish supply. As pointed out in SOFIA 2012, fish and
fishery products represent a very valuable source
of protein and essential micronutrients for
balanced nutrition and good health. In the future,
it is anticipated that human consumption of fishery products will increase worldwide.
1 Refer for information about Year books of annual statistics on capture and aquaculture production during 1980 to
2013. Statistics and information department, Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tokyo (in Japanese)
T. Yamane