High crude oil prices, reflecting the turmoil in the Middle East, have hit the Japanese fishing industry hard, including through surges in costs for fuel and related equipment.
The owner of a company in the city of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, which has six longline tuna fishing boats for distant-water operations, said, “We used to spend about 130 million yen on fuel per ship a year, but fuel prices have now jumped two to three times in South Africa, where our boats are refuelled.”
Revenue from tuna caught is almost offset by fuel costs, the company owner added, expressing concern over the situation.
“Our bonito boats sail for days to find fishing grounds, but many of them now return early as fuel is expensive,” a fishing industry official in the city of Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture, eastern Japan, said.
