冻品攻略

Japan Proposes Further 10% Cut to Pacific Saury Catch Quota at North Pacific Fisheries Commission

Source: 冻品攻略2026-04-16 08:000 views0 comments

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Having just pushed the total Pacific saury quota to a historic low last year, Japan is now preparing to cut it further this year. The latest information shows that at the 10th Annual Meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), held in Osaka from April 14 to 17, Japan plans to push for a further 10% reduction in the 2026 Pacific saury quota on top of the 2025 level, on the grounds that the resource remains at a low level and that catch reductions need to be implemented in accordance with the NPFC's existing harvest control rules.

The meeting brought together 9 members—Japan, China, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Russia, Vanuatu, the European Union, the United States and Canada—with the focus still on catch limits and management arrangements for major fish species in the North Pacific high seas. Japan's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Shinjiro Suzuki, said before the meeting that Pacific saury resources remain persistently low and that Japan would push for a reduction in the catch ceiling; mackerel resources are likewise at a low level, and Japan would also seek further cuts based on scientific assessments. The signal from the Japanese government is clear: both Pacific saury and mackerel will be key targets for compression in this round of negotiations.

For Pacific saury, a round of quota cuts was already completed last year. At last year's meeting, the NPFC lowered the 2025 total allowable catch for Pacific saury by 10% to 202,500 tonnes, of which the high seas quota was 121,500 tonnes, the lowest level since quota management was introduced. With resources continuing to weaken, the overfishing dispute unresolved, and changes in the marine environment on top of that, further tightening of the Pacific saury limit has become the core demand of Japan in this round of negotiations.

The difficulty in the negotiations is also clear. Japan wants to continue compressing the quota, while China is not expected to readily accept overly rapid catch reductions, and differences remain among members over the pace of resource recovery and the scale of catch contraction. For distant-water fishing companies and related traders, this kind of bargaining directly affects the subsequent fishing pace, raw material availability and price expectations. Once the Pacific saury quota is cut further, market attention will quickly turn to the actual allocation results, high seas fishing intensity and changes in arrivals in major sales markets.

Mackerel is under pressure at the same time. The NPFC had previously cut the 2025 fishing year high seas mackerel quota sharply by about 30% to 71,000 tonnes, and imposed stricter reporting requirements on all catch, discard and bycatch data. At this session, Japan continues to call for catch reductions based on scientific assessments, indicating that resource management for major pelagic species in the North Pacific is moving in a tighter direction.

The discussions at the meeting are not limited to quota figures. Requirements concerning distant-water fleet supervision, electronic monitoring and port inspections are also intensifying. Environmental organizations recently called on the NPFC to establish minimum standards for electronic monitoring as soon as possible and, with reference to the Port State Measures Agreement, to strengthen port inspections and data sharing so as to close the channels through which illegally caught products enter the market. For the North Pacific Pacific saury trade chain, what the Osaka meeting ultimately delivers this year is not only the level of the quota, but also whether the intensity of subsequent supervision will rise along with it.