Alleged bluefin tuna trade by the large purse seiners

I knew it was so. I couldn't help but think so. After walking through Shiogama Port in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan's largest port for landing fresh bluefin tuna, and Otsu Port in Ibaraki Prefecture, one of the bases for the large purse seine fleet operating in the northern Pacific Ocean, we heard from market officials that bluefin tuna catches by the large and medium-sized purse seiners are suspected to be cheated.

　In Shiogama, an investigation by the National Tax Administration in October of this year revealed that the market's operator, Minato Shiogama Fish Market, had been handling shipments under the name of a nonexistent fictitious firm at the request of a local fisheries wholesaler and giving and receiving cash payments for the shipments.

■Minister-permitted fishing vessels shipped bluefin tuna under the name of fictitious traders

　The market operator, Minato Shiogama Fish Market (President: Naoya Shiga), initially explained that there were no fictitious trader transactions for Pacific bluefin tuna, the catch of which is restricted under an international agreement.

　However, further investigation revealed that bluefin tuna was also traded, and that the owners of the vessels shipping under the fictitious trader's name were not limited to inshore longline fishing vessels, but included large purse seiners as well.

Shiogama

　As long as nearshore longline and purse seine vessels operating under license from the government accurately report the quantity of bluefin tuna and other fish caught to the government, there may be no problem under the Fisheries Law, even if the transactions are conducted through a fictitious trader.

　However, the information received by the author was that transactions through fictitious traders were a sham catch that was excluded from the transaction data of the fish market, which is a public market.

　Shiogama City, the owner of the market, which collects fees for the use of market facilities based on the amount of fish handled, suspects that there may have been some concealment of transactions, and has been inquiring about the situation from the Minato Shiogama Fish Market and the local fish wholesaler who used the name of the fictitious vendor as if he were his own alter ego.

　It is not known at this time what the volume is or how much money is involved. At the request of Miyagi Prefecture, which oversees local wholesale markets, and Shiogama City, the market's owner, Minato Shiogama Fish Market is preparing to report the transactions with the fictitious trader by going back in time and organizing them.

　Rumors of a fleet of purse seiners concealing bluefin tuna landings have been circulating in ports in Hokkaido, Aomori, Chiba, and other prefectures. Even at the port of Shiogama, which has a large catch, the author received information pointing out the existence of bluefin tuna that was traded on a relative basis without being auctioned at the market. In fact, it seems that some fleets were looking for vendors who would buy their overcaught bluefin tuna outside of the market.

Sneaking Bluefin Tuna Back Home Without Reporting the Catch

　In the fall of 2020, a large purse seine fleet based in the port of Otsu, Ibaraki Prefecture, brought home bluefin tuna that it had landed but not shipped to market and distributed around 2 tons of bluefin tuna free of charge to Otsu Fisheries Cooperative Association staff and local residents.　When interviewed by the author, a senior official of the Otsu Fisheries Cooperative admitted that the Otsu purse seine fleet had a practice of bringing back catches to the local community and that they had mistakenly believed that they could bring back bluefin tuna that they had not reported as a catch.

　However, there were some who raised concerns about the fact that the local fishermen split the bluefin tuna that they had not reported as a catch, and immediately after the distribution, they reported the catch to the Northern Pacific Ocean Seine Fishing Cooperative Association (Kitamaki), which effectively manages the bluefin tuna quota, as an after-the-fact report. The catch of bluefin tuna caught in the Northern Pacific Ocean, which is effectively managed by the North Pacific Maki-net, fell within the quota.

　The problem is the fact that tons of bluefin tuna were easily brought back to the local market, evading the eyes of Kitamaki officials and local market officials. When mackerel and sardines were being landed, only the bycatch of bluefin tuna was extracted, managed separately, and secretly taken out of the market.

　The Otsu Fisheries Cooperative Association now reports the bluefin tuna that is consumed on board by the crew or brought back as part of the catch, and says that the practice of consuming bluefin tuna without reporting it has been eliminated.

　The Fisheries Agency apparently knew about the distribution of unreported bluefin tuna by the Otsu Fisheries Cooperative Association three years ago, but there is no indication that they have established a system to monitor the concealment of bluefin tuna caught by purse seiners or the removal of tuna from the market.

　In response to the illegal shipment of bluefin tuna by fishermen in Ohma-machi, Aomori Prefecture, where two shippers were arrested in February of this year, the Fisheries Agency has begun to study measures against illicit distribution, but it is too late to do anything about it.

　The purse seine fishery is allocated a much larger quota for bluefin tuna than the inshore fishing and set-net fisheries. The impact on bluefin tuna resources is extremely large, and it is necessary to monitor the illicit trade more strictly than fishing and set nets.

 As soon as the Fisheries Agency became aware of the fact that the Otsu purse seine fleet was taking bluefin tuna back to the local area and dispersing it, shouldn't the Agency have conducted on-site inspections and collected reports from fishing vessels operating under the minister's license?

 In Japan, the highest brand of tuna, Oma tuna, was caught illegally in large quantities by fishermen and sold at major conveyor-belt sushi chain restaurants.Bluefin tuna.

 The Japanese fishermen were tempted to illicitly distribute the tuna because they could catch a lot of bluefin tuna, but their catch quotas were low.　

 As a result of an investigation by the Aomori Prefectural Police, the quantity of illicit catches by fishermen in the Oma area was 90 tons for the year 2021 alone. Rumors persist that drift-net and purse seiners are dumping large quantities of bluefin tuna into the sea.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)