TRAFFIC hosts online fisheries seminar in Japan
Tokyo, Japan, 16th February 2011—TRAFFIC today hosted a seminar entitled “Towards traceability and sustainable use of marine resources: international trends and activities in Japan”, and in a TRAFFIC first, the seminar was broadcast live online.
The aim of the seminar was to challenge people to answer the question as to whether the fish on their dinner table has been caught legally or not.
“Here in Japan, there is growing awareness of the problems caused by IUU [illegal unreported and unregulated] fishing of salmon, tuna, sharks and other marines resources, and consumers are increasingly demanding greater traceability in the source of the fish they eat, to ensure it comes from legal and sustainable sources,” says Soyo Takahashi, Fisheries Officer with TRAFFIC Japan.
“This seminar provides an opportunity for those interested in this issue to hear how the experts are ensuring greater transparency in the fisheries supply chain.”
Speakers included Mr Melcom Pohl Block, Namibian Ministry of Fisheries Marine Resources on “Namibia and the challenge of sustainable fisheries”; Mr Richard Parsons from the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on “The EU’s IUU fisheries regulations and enforcement, with particular reference to the UK”; Mr Nakamura Nobuyuki, Senior Managing Director of an eel retailing company on “Traceability and eel farming: Production and public certification”; plus TRAFFIC’s Ms Joyce Wu and Ms Soyo Takahashi and Ms Aiko Yamauchi of WWF Japan.
