KYOTO - In the scenic fishing village of Ine, famous for its traditional boathouses, fishermen are facing a rare phenomenon: an exceptional haul of Pacific bluefin tuna.
Dubbed the "black diamond," the fish appeared in unusually large numbers this June, with more than 60 tuna—most weighing around 120 kilograms—caught in a single day.
“This was the first time we’ve ever seen anything like it,” said Kurata Mikio, president of Ineura Fisheries. “Compared to last year, the number of fish larger than 30 kilograms has increased significantly.”
Despite Kyoto Prefecture’s annual quota of 42 tons for fixed-net bluefin fishing, aimed at stock recovery, about 32 tons—or nearly 80 percent of the limit—had already been landed within the first six months. Kurata explained that when nets fill with 300 to 400 tuna at once, the catch can become excessive, forcing crews to release fish back into the sea.
But the surge in tuna has created problems elsewhere. At Sakata Port in Yamagata Prefecture, squid fishing boats suffered heavy damage in June as tuna attacked their gear off the coast of Ishikawa Prefecture. “We’ve never had a year with so much damage from tuna,” one squid fisherman said. The destruction was so severe that crews abandoned operations in the Sea of Japan, relocating instead to the Pacific side near Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture.
Fortunately, squid were plentiful there, allowing boats to operate day and night. “We were saved by being able to fish continuously in Hachinohe,” the fisherman added.
Meanwhile, autumn has brought unexpected troubles for bonito. At Kesennuma Port in Miyagi Prefecture, which has ranked first in bonito landings for 28 consecutive years, catches collapsed to record lows. “Most of the fish are small. We need the larger, seasonal ones,” said Saito Tetsuo, head of the Kesennuma Fisheries Cooperative.
Landings fell to less than one-fifth of last year’s levels, with only undersized bonito appearing. In contrast, at Katsuura Port in Chiba Prefecture—where catches are normally zero in September due to the northward migration—14.5 tons of large bonito were hauled in on a single day.
This reversal, where bonito disappeared from their usual grounds in Kesennuma but appeared in Katsuura instead, highlights the shifting dynamics of Japan’s fisheries. As the autumn season unfolds, the question remains whether these changes will bring abundance or scarcity to the nation’s dining tables.
Source: YOMIURI
