Nine economies, including Japan, Russia and China, began their annual talks on saury fishing quotas in the North Pacific on Tuesday, with Japan seeking to reduce the quotas in light of declining stocks partly caused by overfishing.
The annual North Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting is taking place in the city of Osaka through Friday.
At the previous meeting in March 2025, participants agreed to set the overall saury catch quota at 202,500 tons, down 10% from the previous year, including 121,500 tons for the high seas, also down 10%.
At the ongoing meeting, Japan is proposing an additional 10% quota cut to support stock recovery, but China is expected to oppose it.
Japan’s annual saury catches were around 300,000 tons until 2009 before plunging to about 18,000 tons in 2022.
Fishing quotas for common mackerel and sardine will also be discussed at the NPFC meeting.
