What Does Sustainable Fishing Look Like in Japan?

Just across the water from the massive consumer market of Tokyo lies Funabashi Port, in Chiba Prefecture. Long known as one of Japan’s most productive coastal fishing grounds, the bay is home to a seasonal rotation of species: kohada in spring, suzuki (Japanese sea bass) in summer, and konoshiro in autumn and winter.

Among these, suzuki holds a special place. Chiba ranks first in Japan for suzuki landings, supplying nearly three-quarters of the national catch—and much of it flows through Funabashi.

“I feel like there’s less diversity now compared to 40 years ago, when I first started going out to sea,” says Kazuhiko Ohno, a third-generation leader of the purse seiner Daidenmaru. With over four decades of fishing experience, he has seen the bay change, yet notes that recent landings have remained relatively stable thanks to efforts at self-regulation.

For Ohno, sustainability is personal. Guided by a lesson from his grandfather—“A good fisherman isn’t the one who catches the most, but the one who makes a living by catching less”—he has spent the past decade trying to ensure that Tokyo Bay’s Edomae fishery can thrive for the next 100 years.

From the Olympics to Japan’s First FIP

The turning point came in the lead-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Ohno’s company, Kaiko Bussan, had developed “Shunjime Suzuki,” a premium brand of sea bass, handled with meticulous care from ikejime bleeding to spinal cord removal to preserve peak freshness. It was the kind of product he believed deserved international attention.

But when Kaiko Bussan explored opportunities to showcase Shunjime Suzuki at the Games, they encountered an obstacle: the Olympic sourcing standards required all seafood to carry credible sustainability certification, such as MSC.

In 2015, the fishery underwent an MSC pre-assessment. While it revealed gaps, it also sparked a new ambition. By 2016, Ohno and his partners launched Japan’s first Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) aimed at MSC certification.

Building a Foundation: Data and Rules

The initial focus was simple: understand the fishery. During the May–November sea bass season, crews manually recorded daily catch data and shared it monthly with an international NGO for feedback. Buyers cooperated, too, helping avoid overfishing by adjusting net sizes and limiting volumes.

As the project grew, so did the need for precision. Partnering with a tech company, they developed a custom data-entry app for use onboard. It took two years to build, but once implemented, it transformed recordkeeping.

Data led to action. Based on new insights, Daidenmaru and its partner vessel Nakasenmaru introduced voluntary management rules:

・Release any sea bass under 25cm.
・Release all fish caught during the spawning season (late November–February).
・Impose a one-month fishing moratorium every February.

These rules, crafted from both science and tradition, became the backbone of their long-term resource plan.

UMITO Partners supported the effort, designing action plans to address MSC gaps, digitizing data workflows, and coordinating the project. “Certification is important,” Ohno says, “but what matters more is creating a fishery that lasts a century.”

The Challenge of Change

Still, progress has been anything but straightforward.

“To achieve MSC certification, one group alone isn’t enough,” Ohno explains. “We need cooperation from other fishers, from co-ops, from government, and even from consumers.”

When the project began, there was no formal stock assessment for suzuki in Chiba, making it difficult to build broad support. According to Shunji Murakami of UMITO Partners, this reflects a structural challenge.

“In Japan’s coastal fisheries, we simply don’t have enough data to meet certification standards,” Murakami notes. “And because many fishers operate independently, coordination is hard. Government leadership is essential—but without it, change moves slowly.”

He contrasts this with Alaska, where state-led management and strong market demand for sustainability have fueled widespread certification. In Japan, where consumer awareness of labels like MSC is still low, market pressure remains weak.

“For Japanese consumers, just putting a certification label on a fish won’t make it sell,” Ohno reflects. “Certification has costs. I’d rather move step by step with the next generation to build something that truly lasts.”

A Shift in Focus

Over time, the project evolved. What began as a push for MSC certification became a broader sustainable fishery initiative rooted in stewardship rather than labels alone.

That shift is yielding results. Local governments have begun improving stock assessments for Tokyo Bay suzuki, drawing on the catch data provided by Daidenmaru and Nakasenmaru. National policy is moving too: in 2020, Japan revised its Fisheries Act to introduce catch limits for certain migratory species. Yet suzuki remains outside those national quotas, underscoring the need for locally driven action.

For Ohno, sustainability also means education. “It’s no longer enough to just catch fish,” he says. “We need to connect it to people’s lives.”

In Funabashi, Kaiko Bussan runs food education programs, providing suzuki for school lunches and teaching children about the bay’s seasonal fish. “If they taste truly fresh, local fish and feel glad that Funabashi still has healthy oceans, that’s how we build a sustainable society.”

The next generation is already carrying that work forward.

“I started fishing just as the project began,” says Ryo Yugeta, now chief fisherman of Daidenmaru. “For me, data collection and transparency have always been part of the job. It takes extra effort, but if we want a future, we have to do it now.”

Akihiro Nakamura, of Nakasenmaru, agrees: “This isn’t just about us. It’s about building something we can pass to future fishers, to co-ops, to government, and to consumers. That’s how we create real change.”

Toward the Next 100 Years

Fishing in Tokyo Bay will only grow more difficult as environmental pressures mount. But for Ohno and his partners, that is precisely why their work matters.

By combining tradition with innovation, data with community, and stewardship with education, they are reimagining what a sustainable fishery can look like in Japan.

And if they succeed, Tokyo Bay’s suzuki may still be thriving—caught, enjoyed, and celebrated—100 years from now.

Photo: UMITO Partners
Text: Ayako Morioka
English adaptation and editing: Louie Okamoto, with AI-assisted translation

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