Author(s)

M Calzà, F D’Este & G Contento

Abstract

Study of fishery networks in Japan N.Takahashi, Y. Yamada, Y. Maeno & M. Takezawa Department of Civil Engineering, College of Science and Technology, Nihon University, Japan. Abstract There are about 3000 designated fishing ports and about 6000 fishing villages in Japan, with about one fishing village per 10 km scattered along the coastline. The fisheries of Japan appear to have been in slight decline recently. Many fishing ports and fishing villages are located in rural areas, with the result that public facilities connected with rural life are not well maintained. Many young men have consequently migrated to the cities and the populations of numerous fishing villages are now discussing how to cope with depopulation and aging. A statistical analysis of the population census results, and also of the structure of fishery production and fishery management in Japan, is being carried out by the Management & Coordination Agency and the Fisheries Agency of the Japanese Government. In addition, a network model is proposed by unifying networks of land and sea. The results and conclusions are as follows: (1) the production of the coastal fishery is not changing, but total fishery production is decreasing every year, (2) the marine aquaculture production is increasing slowly but steadily, (3) imports of fishery products are rapidly increasing every year, but exports of fishery products are decreasing, such that the self-supply rate of fishery products in Japan is falling, (4) the number of persons working in fisheries is decreasing, and the number of workers over 65 years of age is increasing, (5) the income for fishery households is lower than for worker households and farmer households, (6) the number of fishery cooperative is gradually decreasing due to amalgamation with neighborhood cooperatives, (7) the revitalization of many fishing villages can be expected by applying a unified land and sea network connected with the topography and the fishery sphere of influence, (8) the networks for Japan are classified into 4 classes, and the topography for networks is divided into 8 types.

Keywords