Chris Loew

Japanese spicy cod roe maker Yamaya Communications recently announced that it will be onshoring some cod-roe processing work previously done in Vietnam. 

In an interview with the Japanese public television channel NHK, the Fukuoka-based company’s president, Masahide Yamamoto, said that a major reason for returning the work to Japan was costs, as wages have risen in Vietnam, with the weaker Japanese yen compounding the company's

Japan, a major producer and exporter of mackerel, is also a major importer and it represents Norway’s most important international market for the species.

Despite catching hundreds of thousands of tons of mackerel, demand from Japanese consumers results in a high volume of imports of the species – with the vast majority of imports coming from Norway. This is because the Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) imported from Norway is

The top bluefin tuna sold during the first auction of the year at Tokyo’s Central Wholesale Market in Toyosu reached JPY 36,040,000 (USD 274,120, EUR 256,785), carrying on a tradition started at the market’s former location in Tsukiji and signaling some recovery from the pandemic.

The high price has nothing to do with the actual value of tuna, nor with its relative scarcity. As in years past, it’s a PR stunt and a reasonably

Japan and Russia have agreed to reduce the total allowable catch in each other’s fishing areas by 33 percent after the 39th meeting of the Japan-Russia Fisheries Committee. 

Japan and Russia have a longstanding agreement to allow reciprocal fishing access to areas of each other’s exclusive economic zones (EEZs). The Japan-Russia Fisheries Committee was established based on the Soviet-Japanese Agreement on Offshore Fisheries,

From 2 to 15 December, 2022, Kura Sushi featured farmed “AI Sumagatsuo” at it restaurants in Japan for the first time.

The “AI Sumagatsuo” – also known as eastern little tuna or mackerel tuna in English – is the third fish species being farmed at the sushi chain’s Kura Osakana Farm, joining its farming of red sea bream and yellowtail. Kura Sushi said its first batch of farmed mackerel tuna totaled 6

Sea urchin aquaculture company Urchinomics has secured the world's first voluntary blue carbon credit for kelp-bed restoration.

Urchinomics is based in IJmuiden, the Netherlands. Its Tokyo-based Japanese subsidiary, Uninomics K.K., farms sea urchins on a commercial scale in Kunisaki, Oita Prefecture, and Nagato, Yamaguchi Prefecture. By having divers remove sea urchins from “urchin barrens” – kelp beds overgrazed by the urchins

The listing of blue sharks by a body that regulates trade in endangered species will add a layer of paperwork for Japanese shark-product exporters.

The port of Kesennuma, Japan, located in the northeast of Japan’s main island of Honshu, is the main center for shark fishing and processing in Japan. Large numbers of shortfin mako and blue sharks are landed there annually, to be turned into gelatinous shark fin soup and fluffy white

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) wrapped up its 19th regular session in Da Nang, Vietnam, on 3 December, 2022, with an agreement to adopt a management procedure (MP) for skipjack tuna, but watered down the action by making it non-binding.

While the skipjack stock managed by the WCPFC is currently deemed healthy, the Marine Stewardship Council and other conservation groups have been pushing for the adoption of an MP,