[2023 AWARD WINNING PAPER]Outlay of inland fishery cooperatives for fishery resource enhancement in Japan

Nippon Suisan Gakkaishi 89, 264-275 (2023)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2331/suisan.22-00053

Authors

Tomoyuki NAKAMURA , Shintaro SEKINE

Abstract

To understand the financial costs associated with fishery resource enhancement to inland fishery cooperatives in Japan, the annual reports of cooperatives throughout the country were analyzed for the fiscal years 2010 and 2017. The percentage of total fishery resource enhancement outlay to the total outlay of cooperatives was 35.8% in 2010 and 35.2% in 2017 on average. The percentage of obligatory fishery resource enhancement outlay, based on the Japan Fishery Act, to the total outlay of cooperatives was 27.6% in 2010 and 23.6% in 2017 on average. Some of the cooperatives are concerned that the obligatory fishery resource enhancement is a greater financial burden for the cooperative management. However, most cooperatives report only total fishery resource enhancement that is the sum of obligatory and voluntary enhancement outlays in annual reports, and the exact ratio of obligatory fishery resource enhancement outlay to total fishery resource enhancement is unclear. But in our estimation, the costs for total fishery resource enhancement amounted to about double the amount for obligatory fishery resource enhancement, 1.8 times in 2010 and 1.7 times in 2017. Over 84% of the cooperatives had fulfilled their obligatory fishery resource enhancement for six species—ayu Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis, whitespotted charr Salvelinus leucomaenis, masu salmon Oncorhynchus masou, rainbow trout O. mykiss, crucian carp Carassius spp., and Japanese eel Anguilla japonica.

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