HOKKAIDO - Climate change is reshaping Hokkaido's fishing and agricultural industries, contributing to declining salmon and pink salmon catches while allowing crops such as sweet potatoes, once considered unsuitable for large-scale production in Japan's far north, to take root.
In Shari, a fishing town on the Sea of Okhotsk that boasts Japan's largest salmon catch, fishermen are confronting an increasingly serious decline in fish stocks.
The area's seafood remains a major attraction, with salmon and glistening salmon roe among the ingredients served in local seafood bowls. But fishermen say conditions at sea are changing rapidly.
Pink salmon, another specialty of the region, have become particularly scarce. Fishermen would normally catch around 400 pink salmon a month, but fisherman Masayoshi Ito said this year's catch has fallen to just two in a month.
"The catch has suddenly gone into a steep decline," Ito said.
The number of pink salmon reaching waters off Japan last year fell to a record low.
One factor believed to be behind the decline is rising sea temperatures. The Oyashio, a cold current that flows toward Hokkaido, has weakened, causing water temperatures to rise and contributing to lower catches.
"This is Japan's number-one salmon town," Ito said. "It would be good if we had something else, but this is what we have."
While fishing communities struggle with the effects of warming seas, some farmers are seeking new opportunities created by higher temperatures.
In Obira, northern Hokkaido, farmer Kota Kato began growing sweet potatoes three years ago. Southern Tohoku had traditionally been considered the northern limit for large-scale sweet potato production, but rising temperatures have made cultivation possible in Hokkaido.
Agricultural cooperatives are supporting efforts to establish sweet potatoes as a new local specialty, partly because the crop requires relatively little labor at a time when the farming population is aging.
"There is no point trying to fight the weather," said Takamune Wakabayashi of JA Rumoi.
"We have no choice but to adapt," Kato said.
Hokkaido-grown sweet potatoes are also being used to develop new products. A sweet potato shochu made from locally grown crops has been produced and will be sold on a trial basis as part of efforts to create a new specialty for the town.
"As the town, the times and the climate change, the way we make things and the people in the community also need to change," said Junpei Hirotani of the Kiyosato Shochu Distillery.
The changes taking place across Hokkaido show how a warming climate is challenging long-established industries while also creating opportunities for new crops and products that could eventually alter what appears on Japanese dining tables.
Source: TBS
