Participatory management in coastal fisheries in japan

Penal provisions Chapter VI Fishers’ cooperative association, Partners, Officers, Resource management rule, Fishers’ will Basic Principle, Basic Plan for Fisheries, Policies for security

Participatory Management in Coastal Fisheries in Japan

Preface

1 PARTICIPATORY FISHERIES MANAGEMENT IN JAPAN I

Fishery Regulation Commission, Fishers’ Cooperative Associations

2 OUTLINE OF FISHERY MANAGEMENT MECHANISMS IN JAPAN .2

Minister-managed fisheries, Prefectural governor-permit fisheries Licence of Fishery Right

Fishery right (Chapter II), Fishery regulation (Chapter IV), Legislative

governor-permit fisheries Designated fisheries (Chapter III), Fishery

Regulation Commissions (Chapter IV), Provisions for enforcement

Framework of regulations Prohibition of destructive fishing practices

Maximum number of permitted fishing vessels Limitation to catch

Protected water Other provisions Penal provisions (Chapter VI)

Fishers’ cooperative association, Partners, Officers, Resource management rule, Fishers’ will

Basic Principle, Basic Plan for Fisheries, Policies for security of stable

supply of fishery products (Section II), Sound development of fisheries

(Section III), Administrative agencies and organisations for fisheries Fishery

Policy Council (Chapter 4)

3.4.1 Basic Plan for Fisheries and policy of national government 14

4.1 Outline of fishery management system by prefectural government 154.2 Fishery Regulation Rule in Kagoshima Prefecture (as an example) 16

Outline of prefectural governor permit Limitation and conditions to

permits etc (Maximum number of permits etc and criteria)

4.2.2 Protection and propagation of fishery resources and enforcement etc.

Catch size limitation Closed season by species Restriction or prohibition

of fishing gear or methods Other restrictions and limitations Marker flags

and buoys Recreational fisheries Harmful impacts to aquatic environment

5.1 Instructions by sea-region fishery regulation commission 20

Common fishery right Fishery right exercise rule Status of technical

management

5.4 Self restrictions by fishers in fishery management 23

Fishery Regulation Rule of Kagoshima Prefecture 224

III Fishery Right Exercise Rule and Incidental Agreement 271

Class 1 Common Fishery Right Exercise Rules of Eguchi Fishers’ Cooperative

Class 2 and Class 3 Common Fishery Right Exercise Rules of Eguchi Fishers’

Class 1 Common Fishery Right Exercise Rules o f Yamagawa-cho Fishers’

Class 2 and Class 3 Common Fishery Right Exercise Rules of Yamagawa-cho

Class 1 Common Fishery Right Exercise Rules of Tanegashima Fishers’

Class 2 and Class 3 Common Fishery Right Exercise Rules of Tanegashima

Fishery Right Exercise Agreement of Tanegashima Fishers’ Cooperative

Participatory fisheries management emphasises sharing responsibility in management

between fishers and competent management agencies, e.g the national and local

governments, or involvement of fishers in the decision-making process from planning to implementing management of fisheries It is distinctively different from conventional fisheries management where the national or a local government provides rules and

regulations to catch amounts, fishing efforts, etc and enforce fishers through monitoring,

control and surveillance activities (MCS) and penalties When cooperation between the two parties is emphasised, it is referred to as co-management Since fishers are expected

to participate through a community, it is referred to also as community-based management All these concepts could be referred to as a participatory approach in fisheries management

The currently-prevailing fisheries management methodologies in many developed countries such as TAC (Total Allowable Catch) or ITQ (Individual Transferable Quota) cost the governments extensively to maintain the system including large-scale scientific researches and statistics In contrast, participatory fisheries management is drawing attention of developing countries and competent international organisations as an approach universally applicable in many developing regions It is inexpensive and expected to function with minimal institutional system or scientific information First of all, however, it must be recognised that fishers have a right and responsibility to participate in decision-making because any management measures including regulations influence their livelihood Initiatives by fishers are expected in such aspects in closure of fishing grounds or fishing seasons, regulations of fishing gear and method and limitation

to operation times which are visible and can be monitored by fishers by themselves These management measures should be different from locality to locality because of differences

in resources and fishing traditions A legislative system must be, therefore, established to authorise and enable fishers to be responsible to these management activities

It is internationally famous that Japan has a long history of participatory fisheries management and its fishers’ cooperative associations play a major role in its coastal fi.sheries management Many managers and scientists are interested in this system, however, basic documentation of the relevant laws and regulations are available only in Japanese and there have been difficulties to study the unique system on the primary sources for many interested people The author and his group have an opportunity to conduct an Official Development Assistance (ODA) project of ‘Community-based fisheries management (CBFM) in Malaysia’ sponsored by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and decided to produce a textbook to be used for explanation of the CBFM

in Japan It is intended to translate the laws, regulation and rules at various levels which provide and characterise the participatory coastal fisheries management in Japan This textbook includes short description about the mechanisms of coastal fisheries management

in Japan, however, it does not intend to explain it in details The main purpose of this publication is to provide raw information on the laws and regulations relevant to participatory fishery management in Japan in English The authors hope that the short explanation can be used as an index to find the relevant provisions in the translation.

In the case of the Fishery Act, Fishery Resource Protection Act, and Fishery Basic Law, the translation was firstly made and has been publicised by the Ministry of Justice of the Japanese Government and correction and improvement were made by an international cooperation group of academic staff members of Fishing Technology Division of the Faculty of Fisheries, Kagoshima University Translation of Fishery Industry Cooperative

Association Act, Fishery Regulation Rule of Kagoshima Prefecture and Fishery Right Exercise Rules of Eguchi, Yamagawa-cho and Tanageshima Fishers’ Cooperative

Associations were carried out by the said group For convenience for Japanese users, the translation is presented side by side with the original provisions in Japanese on the opposite column Literal translation from the original provisions in Japanese to English was the principle for the author from the viewpoint o f utilisation of this textbook Therefore, the sentences of the English versions are unnatural sometime within the range

of grammatical correctness We hope this textbook will contribute to deepening and strengthening the education and researches on the participatory approaches in coastal fisheries management

It is noted that the translated versions are only for the purpose of education, training and other academic activities Any administrative agencies in Japan including the Ministry

of Justice, the Fisheries Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and

the Prefectural Government of Kagoshima and other organisations including Eguchi,

Yamagawa-cho and Tanageshima Fishers’ Cooperative Associations and the Faculty of

Fisheries, Kagoshima University are entirely not responsible to the contents The above mentioned group is not legislatively responsible to any results of the use of this textbook

PARTICIPATORY MANAGEMENT IN COASTAL FISHERIES IN JAPAN

1 PARTICIPATORY FISHERIES MANAGEMENT IN JAPAN

The participatory coastal fisheries management system in Japan has a long history for centuries It has been developed through the era when scientific knowledge was lacking and the social system was based on localised governance, from which the present system has been influenced This is the reason why the coastal fisheries management in Japan have a character of participatory approach and Japan is one of the rare countries which have successful history of participatory management or co-management It is noted first that the major players in the participatory coastal fisheries management in Japan are Fishery Regulation Commissions and Fishers’ Cooperative Associations, which are legislatively established through the national level to fishers’ level

Fishery Regulation Commission: The fishery regulation commissions are provided

in the Fishery Act In particular, the Sea-Region Fishery Regulation Commissions which are one of the categories of fishery regulation commissions and are established by prefectural governments are basically important Each sea-region fishery regulation commission is composed of members whose majority is fishers A commission possesses extensive functions to be consulted by and to recommend to a Prefectural Governor and make decisions by itself For example, a prefectural governor shall perform consultation with the commission before establishment of a Plan of Fishing Ground Utilisation and Management, licensing for a Fishery Right and all proceedings pertaining to a fishery right A commission may recommend pertaining to establishment of a plan of fishing ground utilisation and management, addition of restrictions and conditions to a licensed fishery right or issuance of an order of a prefectural governor to persons who do not follow the instructions by the commission The commission can make a decision by itself

in such cases as an instruction of restriction or prohibition of harvesting a certain fishery animals and plants to fishers or arbitration when negotiation between the concerned

parties pertaining to dispute concerning a fishery right is not concluded etc Furthermore,

a commission is authorised to collect reports from fishers etc and make investigations on

fishing grounds, vessels, business places or offices

Fishers’ Cooperative Associations: The fishers’ cooperative associations in Japan are

established in localities such as municipalities, cities or prefectures, of which sizes largely vary due to local situations The largest factor of contribution of fishers’ cooperative associations to participatory management is based on the system that a Common Fishery Right (a right to utilise a certain area of fishing ground commonly among fishers) is licensed

to a fishers’ cooperative association and the licensed association decides the regulations to fishing methods and others under which partners undertake fishing operation accordingly On the other hand, partners of an association conduct fishing in the licensed area exclusively The decision is referred to as a Fishery Right Exercise Rule The rule is validated after approval of

a prefectural governor Therefore, the authority of the prefectural government and

self-decision making by fishers are balanced in coastal fishery management and, subsequently, co-management functions.

2 OUTLINE OF FISHERY MANAGEMENT MECHANISMS IN JAPAN

Fishery management in Japan is based on the permit and license systems which are provided in the Fishery Act The fisheries undertaken on permits are categorised into fisheries

to which permits etc are granted by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and those, by prefectural governors (permits etc refers to a permit and approval for busiress

commencement)

Minister-managed fisheries: The Minister-Managed Fisheries include three categories,

i.e designated fisheries (13 fisheries), specific Minister-permit fisheries (5 fisheries) and

notification fisheries (4 fisheries)

The Designated Fisheries are defined as those to which a framework of unified meastres from the national viewpoint, such as regulations to the total number of fishing vessels, are needed due to their characters of fishing grounds, resource status, international relationships and other reasons The designated fisheries are categorised into those designated frota a viewpoint of fishing methods and targeted species, because of the first two items to exp ain the needs of designation as above The first category includes the off-shore bottom tr٤wl, East-China Sea bottom trawl, distant-water bottom trawl and large and medium-scale purse seine fisheries and the latter, the distant water skipjack and tuna, near-shore skipjack and tuna, medium-scale salmon and trout, Northern Pacific saury, the Sea of Japan red snow crab, scuid jigging, large-scale whaling, small-scale whaling and mother-boat type whaling fisheries The number of fishing vessels, a fishing ground, a fishing period, gross tonnage, horse power of a main engine and species are main regulation items in the designated fisheries

The Specific Minister-Permit Fisheries were referred to as approval fisheries previously and defined as those to which overall regulations such as limitation to a total numbei of fishing vessels are not applied because of comparatively small impacts to their ta.get resources by the fisheries in this category, however, a certain measures are needed from the

national viewpoint This category includes snow crab East China Sea swordfish etc drift-iet East China Sea longline, Atlantic Ocean etc longline and Pacific bottom gillnet fisheries.

The Notification Fisheries are those to which unified national regulations are not neeced, however, data of the resource status and other information must be collected for the naticnal

government There are swordfish etc drift-net, coastal tuna longline and small-scale Japarese

flying squid jigging fisheries and coastal fisheries in the temporary measured waters

Prefectural governor-permit fisheries: The Prefectural Governor-Permit Fisheries are relatively small-scale fisheries undertaken in coastal and offshore waters and they are categorised into the Legislative Governor-Permit Fisheries and governor-permit fisherie; in narrow sense The latter fisheries are managed at the prefectural level due to a large variaion due to differences in local circumstances They are managed under a Prefectural Fislery Regulation Rule which is established by each prefectural government Participatiry

management is applied through a fishery regulation commission established for each sea region.

Licence of Fishery Right: Small-scale fisheries operated in inshore waters on the basis of

the Licence of fishery right etc are referred to as Fishery-Right Fisheries which are exempted

from the scope of prefectural fishery regulation rules A fishery right is established by a licence granted by a prefectural governor pursuant to the Fishery Act The fishery-right fisheries are sub-divided into the Set-Net, Demarcated and Common Fisheries The fishery famous over the world due to its participatory fishery management and self-management by fishers’ cooperative association is the common fishery Areas of fishing grounds for common fisheries are not defined by a distance from the shoreline Since those reflect sharing fishing grounds amongst communities in an old time, they are defined by positions at sea which are

distinctive by using transit lines etc from land marks Therefore, a common fishery license is

granted with a map of an allocated fishing ground where the license is effective The distances from the shoreline are not very large, namely a couple of nautical miles usually

Fishers and fishery employees are segregated The former are persons independently conducting fishery business The latter are persons harvesting fishery animal and plants for a fisher A category amalgamating the above two is referred to as fisherfolks in this textbook

3 MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AT NATIONAL LEVEL

Fishery management in Japan is primarily based on the Fishery Act and the Fishery Resource Protection Act, while management initiatives in each year are formed on the Fishery Biisic Plan which is revised every 5 years on the basis of the Fishery Basic Law Activities of fishers’ cooperative association, which is one of the major players in participatory management, are defined in the Fisheries Cooperative Association Act Comparative overview

of these acts enables readers to understand the backbone of the management of fisheries resource use in Japan There are various levels of delegation of authority in implementation where some are exercised by the national government and the others, local governments and organisations of fishers

3.1 Fishery Act

The Fishery Act was established in 1949 and is the primary act which defines the baseline

of fisheries management in Japan The purpose of the act is defined as; ‘to establish a basic institutional system for fisheries production, to utilise waters comprehensively through operation of fishery regulation mechanisms mainly by fishers and fishery employees, and, thereby, to enhance fisheries productivity and also to democratise the fishery industry (Article 1) The act is composed of nine chapters among which ‘Fishery Rights and Piscary’ (Chapter

ID, ‘Fishery Regulation’ (Chapter IV) and ‘Fishery Regulation Commissions’ (Chapter VI) are important for coastal fisheries management

Fishery right (Chapter II): The Article 6 is very important to depict the overall structure

of the fishery-right fisheries A fishery right refers to the right to undertake certain fisheries in

a certain fishing ground exclusively Fishery rights are dived into a set-net fishery, a demarcated fishery and a common fishery rights (Article 6) The set-net fishery refers specifically a set-net fishery in which the deepest part of the sea where a body net of a set-net

is fixed is 27 meters or more in depth at the time of the highest high tide and a salmon set-ne t

fishery in principle Most of them are otoshiami set-nets The demarcated fishery refers to

aquaculture in a certain water area, which is sub-divided into Class 1 to Class 3 demarcated fisheries The common fishery refers to fisheries undertaken by common utilisation o f a certain water area by a group of fishers, which is sub-divided into Class-1 to Class-4 common fisheries (There is Class-5 common fishery which is for inland fisheries) The common fishery right is licensed to a fishers’ cooperative association, while the demarcated and set-ne؛t fishery right, an individual business operator At licensing, a prefectural governor consults a

sea-region fishery regulation commission and decides the contents of a license, i.e the type o f

fishery, locations and areas of the fishing ground, the fishing season and other matters (Article 11) The Minister of Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries has authority to instruct a prefectural governor regarding a license when specifically necessary for proteetion of reproduction o f fishery animals and plants from a viewpoint beyond a prefectural area There are provisions for the cases for no issuance of licenses (Article 13) and qualification to be granted a licensie (Article 14) Priority is given to those who are fishers with experiences of the fishery of this same category and those with experiences in fisheries in the concerned water in granting я license in set-net or demarcated fishery (Article 16 and Article 17) Working conditions and the magnitude of various influences to other fishers shall be taken into consideration in th،e above decision-making

The Article 8 (Right of Association Partner to Undertake Fishery) provides that a fishers ’ cooperative association shall establish fishery right exercise rules for respective common fishery rights which an association possesses and partners of the association have a right to undertake a fishery within the range of the concerned common fishery right This provision i؛s one of the most important bases of participatory fishery management in Japan where th،e primary players are fishers It is also provided, however, ‘a fishery right exercise rule shall no١t

be valid unless approved by a prefectural governor’ This provision together with a provision such as fishers’ cooperative association shall decide the matters to be observed by fishens characterises the co-management systems in eoastal fisheries management in Japam Prefectural governors may add restrictions or conditions on a fishery right (Article 34) and may change, rescind or suspend a fishery right (Article 39) for public interests

Fishery regulation (Chapter IV): Article 65 provides that the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries or prefectural governors may establish an ordinance or rules for fishenv' law enforcement and fishery regulation, where they may provide that a certain fisheries ma\y

be prohibited or a permit of the Minister or a governor shall be received to undertake fisherie؛s This is very important provision which is the legislative basis for Minister-managed fisherieis other than designated fisheries and provides a basis for prefectural fishery regulation rules The matters which can be provided in an ordinance and a rule are restriction or prohibition!

concerning; (i) harvesting or processing fishery animals and plants, (ii) sale or possession of fishery animals and plants or their products and (iii) fishing gear or fishing vessels and (iv) the number and qualification of fishers Necessary penal provisions may also be included.When a prefeetural governor intends to establish a rule on the basis of this provision, approval of the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is necessary Therefore, even prefeetural rules can be deemed to be under the national management system.

Legislative governor-permit fisheries: The fisheries conducted with relatively large

fishing vessels in coastal and off-shore waters such as; a medium-scale purse seine fishery,

small-scale powered boat bottom seine fishery, Seto Inland Sea powered boat seine fishery or

small-scale salmon/trout driftnet fishery are referred to as the legislative governor-permit fisheries In the case of this eategory of fisheries, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries decides the maximum limit of the number of fishing vessels, total gross tonnage or total horsepower to which permits are granted by prefeeture or by sea water area Prefeetural governors grant permits on the above allocations accordingly (Article 66)

Designated fisheries (Chapter III): The designated fisheries are large-scale fisheries

which are listed in a Cabinet Order and need a national framework as explained earlier In order to undertake a designated fishery, each vessel shall receive a permit of the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Article 52) This is the basis for the nation’s control of fishing effort A person who intends to undertake a designated fishery and who does not have

a right to use a vessel at present shall receive Approval of Business Commencement of the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries before building a vessel or acquiring a right to use a vessel (Article 54) The cases that a permit or approval of business commencement is not granted (Article 56) and the qualification to receive them (Article 57) are provided The Minister also decides the numbers of vessels to be permitted or to be approved for business commencement (Article 58) When the number of applications for permits or approvals of business commencement exceeds the prescribed maximum number, persons to be permitted or approved for business commencement shall be decided on the provided priorities and by a fair method (Article 58-2) All these are the mechanisms to avoid excess fishing effort and irrational operations

Fishery Regulation Commissions (Chapter IV): The fishery regulation commissions are

public organisations which are run by grants from the national government (Article 118)

There are three levels of commissions, i.e sea-region United Sea-Region and Extended

Sea-Region Fishery Regulation Commissions according to the size of the areas where commissions are established and responsible for (Article 82)

Fishery regulation commissions have a strong power such as being consulted by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries or a prefeetural governor or stating their opinions regarding fisheries management to the Minister or a governor In addition, fishery regulation commissions are authorised to request relevant persons to appear or collect reports

or investigate business places etc (Article 116) The commissions are also authorised to enter other persons' land and to survey, to inspect or to remove obtrusive things etc.

A sea-region fishery regulation commission and a united sea-region fishery regulation commission are supervised by the prefectural governor who has jurisdiction over the sea-region and an extended sea-region or by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (article 82) A sea-region fishery regulation commission is established in a sea-region which the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries establishes (Article 84) and is responsible to deal with matters relevant to fisheries within the region (article 83).

A sea-region fishery regulation commission or a united sea-region fishery regulation commission may give instructions of restriction on or prohibition of harvesting fishery animals and plants, restriction on the number of fishers, restriction on usage of fishing grounds to the relevant persons (Article 67) However, the power is under the authority of prefectural governor to give an instruction or rescind

A sea-region fishery regulation commission plays a primary role in participatory fishery management Each commission consists of a total of 15 commission members including 9 members elected from among fishers and fishery employees eligible for election in the localities along the sea-region, 4 members appointed by a prefectural governor as persons with relevant knowledge and experiences and 2 members appointed by the governor as representing public interests in a sea-region (Article 85) Therefore, a majority of members are fisherfolks Fisherfolks who have an address or a place of business in the area along a sea-region and undertake a fishery using a fishing vessel or are engaged in harvesting of fishery animals and plants for fishers or aquaculture for 90 days or more a year have a voting right and eligibility for election of commission members (Article 86) The election and dismissal of members of a commission are administered under mutatis mutandis application

of the Public Officer Election Act and the relevant clerical affairs are managed by a prefectural Election Management Committee under the Local Autonomy Act (Article 88)

A united sea-region fishery regulation commission may be established for a specific purpose in a sea-region uniting two sea-regions or more (Article 105) A united sea-region fishery regulation commission also possesses the authority to instruct as above

The extended sea-region fishery regulation commissions are established for the Pacific

Ocean, the Sea of Japan and the sea west to Kyushu and the Seto Inland Sea (Article 110)

from an extended viewpoint beyond a prefectural area (Article 68) An extended sea-region fishery regulation commission possesses the authority to instruct as above An extended sea-region fishery regulation commission is composed of the members of (i) one each person elected by mutual vote by prefecture from among the members of the sea-region fishery regulation commissions, (ii) persons appointed by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from among persons undertaking fisheries in the area, and (iii) persons with relevant knowledge and experiences appointed by the Minister (Article 110) The relationship between extended sea-region fishery regulation commission and the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is similar to that between a sea-region fishery regulation commission and a prefectural governor

Provisions for enforcement: National Fishery Supervising Officers are appointed by

the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Prefectural Fishery Supervising Officers, a prefectural governor among the officers under their administration National or prefectural fishery supervising officers take charge of the affairs concerning the observance of the laws and regulations relevant to fisheries They have authority to

inspect or ask questions at fishing grounds, vessels, places of business etc (Article 74).

According to Penal Provisions, the punishment to violation of the Fishery Act is imprisonment with work for 3 years or less, fine of 2 million Yen or less, detention or petty fine (Chapter X) In addition, catches, their products, fishing vessels, fishing gear or other things owned or possessed by a criminal may be confiscated (Article 140)

3.2 Fishery Resource Protection Act

The Fishery Resource Protection Act is one of the most important Acts for fishery management in Japan, which was established in 1951 The purpose of the Act is to intend;

‘protection and propagation of fishery resources, to maintain the effects for the future and, thereby, to contribute to the development of fisheries’ It is composed of six chapters of which ‘Protection and Propagation of Fishery Resources’ (Chapter II) and ‘Survey of Fishery Resources’ (Chapter III) are the major chapters In particular, the Chapter II is the

core of this Act, being composed of the sections of ‘Restriction, etc on Harvesting

Fishery Animals and Plants’, ‘Import Quarantine of Fishery Animals’, ‘Protected Waters’,

‘Protection and Propagation of Anadromous Fishes’ and ‘Securement of Seeds and Fingerings of Fishery Animals and Plants’

Framework of regulations: Article 4 ‘Restriction etc on Harvesting Fishery Animals

and Plants’ of Section 1, Chapter II is the most important from the viewpoint of formulation of fishing regulations The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries or

a prefectural governor may prohibit fisheries for a certain species or with a certain fishing method or establish a permit system to fisheries (Article 4) The Minister or a governor may establish an ordinance or a rule for restriction or prohibition concerning; (i) harvesting, (ii) sale or possession of fishery animals or plants, (iii) fishing gear or fishing vessels, (iv) abandonment or leakage of substances or water degradation harmful to fishery animals or plants, (v) collection or removal of things necessary for protection and propagation of fishery animals or plants or (vi) transplantation of fishery animals or plants

In these cases, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries shall consult the Fishery Policy Council, and a prefectural governor shall consult the relevant sea-region fishery regulation commission and receive approval of the Minister In the ordinance or the rule, penal provisions including punishment of imprisonment with work, misdemeanour imprisonment without work, a petty fine or their cumulative imposition may be established All these are provided in Article 4 which provides the fishery permit systems administered by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the system based

on a prefectural fishery regulation rule together with Article 65 of the Fishery Act

Prohibition of destructive fishing practices: In Restriction to fishing methods, use

of explosives (Article 5), poisonous substances (Article 6) and possession and sale of animals and plants harvested in violation of these provisions are prohibited (Article 7).Maximum num ber of perm itted fishing vessels: The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries may decide the maximum number of fishing vessels for fisheries which require his/her permit by category of fishery and by water area (Article 9) When the number of fishing vessels which actually have a permit for a fishery exceeds the maximum number, the Minister shall decide rescission of the permits or change of an operation area (Article 10) The loss induced by the above rescission or change is compensated by the national government (Article 11) A person who received the compensation shall pay the prescribed amount out of the compensation to his/her on-board workers and shore-based employees (Article 12) These are the provisions which form the basis for fishing effort management which Japan has conducted for many years.

Lim itation to catch: The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries may provide the maximum limit of the annual quantity to be harvested in the fisheries where fishing vessels require a permit of the Minister (designated fisheries and specific Minister-permit fisheries) by category of fishery or by species of catches and by water and recommend the relevant business operators or their organisations to take measures not to catch a quantity beyond the limitation (Article 13) It is noted that the measure is defined as recommendation

Protected water: A Protected Water defined in this Act is ‘a water where fishery animals spawns, where juvenile fish grow or which is suitable to occur for seeds and fingering؛ of fishery animals and plants and to be designated by a prefectural governor or the Ministe of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries as a water for which measures necessary for their protection and propagation should be taken’ (Article 14) This provision enables a fishery refugium or marine protected area (MPA) which draws attention nowadays is possible, if t is strictly applied

Protected waters are implemented as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishenes provides the criterion and a prefectural governor designates (Article 15) The Minister ٤lso may designate a protected water A prefectural governor shall consult the relevant sea-region fishery regulation commission and also receive the consent of the Ministei of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, when he/she intends to designate a protected wa:er

On the other hand, the Minister shall consult a prefectural governor who has the Jurisdiction over the water, when he/she intends to designate a protected water

An administrator of a protected water is either a prefectural governor or the Ministe? of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries who designated the concerned protected water (Article 16)

An administrator shall establish a management plan for a protected water which he/١he designated and clarify; (i) the species to be propagated, (ii) the species restricted or prohibted from harvesting, and (iii) the fishing gear or fishing vessels to be restricted or prohibited, md their contents and related factors (Article 17) Land reclamation, dredging, or other wcrks which cause changes in the flow volume or water level of a waterway or river within an ٤rea

of a protected water shall receive permission of the competent administrator (Article 18).Other provisions: The Chapter II also includes provisions dealing with; import of fishery animals which could be infected with the diseases subject to import quarantine on fishery animals (Section 1-2), protection and propagation of anadromous fishes (Section 3) including protection of route for anadromous fishes (Article 22 through to Article 24) and prohibition of harvesting salmon in inland water (Article 25), and sustenance of seeds and fingerings of fishery animals and plants (Section 4).

Chapter III (Survey of Fishery Resources) provides that the national government shall

conduct scientific surveys of quantities of catches, fishing operations and sea conditions etc

regarding the fisheries in the categories to which protection and propagation of resources are necessary (Article 29) Chapter IV (Subsidy) is very short but it provide a very important matter that the national government may subsidise a part of expenses for; management of protected waters, building or restoration of facilities in a route for anadromous fishes and artificial hatching and releasing of salmon or trout (Article 31) In Chapter V (Miscellaneous Provisions), one of the provisions which define the authority of the fishery policy council in requesting reports or conducting surveys is important (Article 34)

Penal provisions (Chapter VI): A person who violates this Act shall be punished by imprisonment with work for a maximum of 3 years or a fine of a maximum of 2 million Yen

and catches, fishing vessels or fishing gear etc may be confiscated (Article 36).

3.3 Fisheries Cooperative Association Act

The Fisheries Cooperative Association Act was established in 1948 for the purposes ‘to promote development of the cooperative organisation of fishers and fishery processors, consequently to anticipate betterment of their socioeconomic status and enhancement of the productivity of the fishery industry and to intend development of national economy (Article 1) It is a large Act consisting of nine chapters, however, the fishers’ cooperative association is dealt only in Chapter 2, while Chapter 3 through to Chapter 6-2 are allocated to Fishery Producer Association, the Federation of fishers’ cooperative associations Fishery Processor Cooperative Association, the Federation of Fishery Processor Cooperative Associations and the Federation of Mutual Aid Fisheries Cooperative Associations A large portion of even Chapter 2 deals with crediting and mutual aid business Although it is famous that fishers’ cooperative associations play an important role in coastal fisheries management in Japan and this Act is the basis for the legislative framework of the association, the matters related to fisheries management by the association are dealt a little in this Act

Fishers’ cooperative association: The fishers’ cooperative association shall contribute directly to the partners through its business (Article 4) The major activities for

an association are; (i) management of fishery resources and propagation of fishery animals and plants, (ix) placement of a mooring place for vessels, slipway, artificial reef and other facilities for fisheries of partners, (viii) business relevant to utilisation of fishing grounds, (vi) placement of facilities for common use for business or life of partners, (vii) transportation,

processing, storage or sales of catches and other products of partners, (ii) supervision for improvement of operation management and technology in fisheries, (v) supply of commodities for business or life of partners, (iii) loan of funds for business or life of partners, (xiii) education for improvement of knowledge of business of an association and provision of information for partners and (x) business relevant to prevention of sea disasters or rescue for partners (Article 11; the above numbers are the item numbers in the Act and the order of listing herewith have been intentionally changed) In addition, it may conduct the business such as; acceptance of saving money, mutual aid of partners, business relevant to welfare of partners and intermediary business for insurance and mutual aid.

Characteristics of a fishers’ cooperative association shall be defined by the statements

of the following matters in the articles of association as; (i) business, (iii) covered area, (v) rules for a qualification to be a partner and joining and withdrawal, (vii) rules for sharing operation expenses, (x) rules for the prescribed number of officers, demarcation of duties and election or appointment and others (Article 32; the above numbers are the item numbers in the Act) An association may also establish rules to cover the matters such as; (i) a general meeting or a general meeting of representatives, execution of work and (ii) accountancy, (iii) officers and (iv) partners (Article 33; the above numbers are the item numbers in the Act).Partners: The qualification to be a partner is, in principle, to be an individual fisher who possesses his/her address within the region of an association and whose number of days of undertaking or being engaged in fisheries exceeds the prescribed number of days in a year (days provided in the articles of association as the number of days between 90 days and 120 days) An association and juridical person which satisfy the given conditions may also a partner (Article 18) Partners are entitled to receive the services of business prescribed in Article 11 from the association An association may have the partners’ contribution (Article 19) When an association provides so, possessing one share of contribution or more is compulsory for each partner Each partner possesses the right of one vote and suffrage (Article 21) An association is not allowed to refuse joining of a person possessing a qualification to be a partner (Article 25) and a partner may withdraw anytime (Article 26), however, a partner who neglected duties to an association may be withdrawn by expulsion (Article 27) An association may have partners contribute a surplus of an association as revolving contribution money (Article 19-2) and impose expenses for operation on partners (Article 22) An association may impose a fine for default on a partner (Article 23) These provisions indicate the openly accessible but legislatively authorised character of fishers’ cooperative associations with a range of power

Officers: An association shall have directors and auditors as its officers who are elected among from and by partners (Article 34) and may have an operation management committee

of which the members are also officers (Article 34-2) Persons such as adult ward, a person

under curatorship, criminals etc or a member of a crime syndicate group etc cannot become

an officer (Article 34-4) Officers shall perform his/her duty with loyalty for an association with compliance to laws and regulations, proceedings by administrative agencies, articles of

association and resolutions by a general meeting (Artiele 39-2) They are important and responsible positions as an officer shall be liable to eompensate the damage when he/she negleeted his/her duty (Article 39-6).

Resource management rule: The Resource Management Rule is one of the matters most

relevant to fisheries management amongst the provisions of this Aet An association which conducts management of fishery resourees and propagation of fishery animals and plants as its business in accordance with Artiele 11 may establish a rule to be observed by partners in a certain water in order to conduct it by an appropriate method, receiving approval of an administrative ageney (Artiele 11-2) The matters to be provided in a resource management rule are; (i) the water area, fishery resourees and fisheries to be eovered by a rule, (ii) a method of management of fishery resourees, (iii) a valid period of a rule and (iv) matters related to a fine for default in case of violation of a rule A resource management rule shall be consistent to a fishery right exereise rule In this regard, the fishery right exercise rule pursuant to the Fishery Act is superior to this rule

Fishers’ will: Enactment, change and abolition of a resource management rule, fishery

right exercise rule, piscary exercise rule or Recreational Fishing Rule shall be made by a resolution of a general meeting (Article 48) In particular, those of a fishery right exercise rule

or piscary exercise rule are Specific Resolution Matters to which a resolution by a majority of two thirds of votes or more is needed An association may establish sectional meetings under

a general meeting in the local or related districts and have the sectional meetings execute the authority of a general meeting regarding the Specific Demarcated Fishery Right or common fishery right (Article 51-2) Regarding a resource management rule, an association shall also obtain consent of two thirds of partners or more who undertake the fisheries covered by the rule in the water covered by the rule (Article 11-2) These provisions reflect the principle that the will of relevant fishers are respected

3.4 Fishery Basic Law

The Fishery Basic Law establishes the basic principles, not only of the fisheries industry, but with a wide scope for utilisation of fishery resources including marketing and consumption of fishery products as well as international measures and the basic matters for their materialisation Usually in any fields of administration, basic matters are provided in a basic law and other acts are established for their implementation, however, the role of the Fishery Basic Law is not as such because of the long history of the system for development and management of fisheries under the Fishery Act The Fishery Basic Law includes a few provisions for fishery management and it plays a role of a basic law for policy formulation It provides the responsibilities of the State in formulation of comprehensive policies for fisheries (Article 4) It also provides responsibilities of local

governments (Article 5), efforts of fishers etc (Article 6) and role of consumers (Article 8).

Basic Principle: As the basic principle, the following matters are prescribed.

(1) Security of stable supply of fishery’ products (Article 2)

1 stable supply of fishery products of good quality which are important as the basis for sound dietary life of the citizens through to the future

2 appropriate conservation and management of fishery resources and promotion of stock enhancement and aquaculture of fishery plants and animals to secure their sustainable utilisation on the basis of correct implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

3 stable supply of fishery products to the citizens on the principle to secure sustainable utilisation of fishery resources and to increase domestic fishery production together with an appropriate combination with imports

(2) Sound development of fisheries (Artiele 3)

1 sound development of fisheries by efficient and stable fishery business management, coordination among capture fisheries, a fishery processing industry and marketing of fishery products, and developing fishing ports, fishing grounds and other infrastructure, while utilising fishery resources sustainably and meeting demands of the citizens for fishery products

2 promotion of development of fishing communities which play a role as a basis of sound development of fisheries by developing the living environment and improving welfare

Basic Plan for Fisheries: The Act provides that the basic plan for fisheries shall be established, consulting with the Fishery Poliey Council, and the plan shall be revised approximately every 5 years, taking changes in circumstances surrounding the fisheries into consideration and basing upon an evaluation of effectiveness of the current measures (Article 11) It is also provided that the plan must include the following matters; (i) basic direction of the policies relevant to fisheries, (ii) targeted self-sufficiency rate of fishery produets, (iii) measures for fisheries which the Government shall take comprehensively and deliberately and (iv) other matters necessary for comprehensive and deliberate promotion of fisheries policies

It is provided that the self-sufficiency rate of fishery products shall be improved and its target shall be decided together with the issues which fishers and other concerned persons should initiate, as a guideline for the fishery production and consumption of fishery products

in the nation The reason of emphasis of this matter in the Act is the concern to the risk to food security for the State Fishing communities shall be in harmony with the national plan

of comprehensive utilisation, development and conservation of the national land

Policies for security of stable supply of fishery products (Section II): Matters related

to management of fishery resource use are provided in this Section The maximum sustainable yield (MSY) is defined as an intended target for appropriate conservation and

management of fishery resources in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) etc and a catch

quantity and fishing effort shall be managed to sustain or recover fishery resources

(Article 13) (EEZ etc refers to all waters including EEZ, adjacent water, territorial water

and other waters belonging to the state) Japan shall cooperate with international

organisations for appropriate conservation and management of fishery resources in the waters

other than its EEZ etc (Article 14) Surveys and researches relevant to fishery resources are

conducted for these purposes (Article 15) From the view point of resources and surrounding environment, promotion of stock enhancement and aquaculture of fishery plants and animals (Article 16), conservation and improvement of habitat environment for fishery plants and animals (Article 17), and sustenance and development of fishing grounds in waters other than

its EEZ etc (Article 18) are also important issues.

For stable supply of fishery products for the nationals, import is a large factor in addition

to the resource issues and fishery production by the nationals, therefore, necessary measures are taken for its security On the other hand, it is also a policy to strengthen the competitiveness of the fishery products from its own fisheries in order to promote their exports (article 19) In order to secure a large quantity of consumption of fishery product

in Japan, stability in the global demand and supply of fishery products toward the future and maintenance of overseas fishing grounds are essential In order to contribute to this, international cooperation such as technical and financial cooperation for promotion of fisheries in developing regions is one of the policies (Article 20)

Sound development of fisheries (Section III): Amongst the circumstances of the

fisheries, efficient and stable development of the domestic fishery industry is the core issue The Seetion indicates its ideal state for the future, providing such matters as; efficient and stable fishery business operation management (Article 21), rationalised utilisation of fishing grounds (Article 22), development and maintenance of human resources

(Article 23), compensation to losses in fisheries due to disaster etc., (Article 24), the

processing and marketing industry in fisheries (Article 25), improvement of infrastructure for the fishery industry (Article 26), development and dissemination of new technology (Article 27), women's participation (Article 28), role of senior people (Article 29) and integrated development of fishing communities (Article 31 and Article 32)

For development and maintenance of human resources, it is important for the national government to take measures to promote; (1) acquisition and improvement of technical skills and business operation management capability for fishers, (2) improvement of working environment for fishers including security of safety in fishing operations and (3) improvement of working conditions and education relevant to fisheries to enhance understanding of and interest in fisheries for the citizens (Article 23) For promotion of research, development and dissemination of technologies, measures such as clarification of goals for technological research and development, corroboration among research institutes,

local governments, universities and private sector etc., and technical transfer in accordance

with local characteristics are necessary (Article 27) In order to promote comprehensive development of fishing communities, sound development of a local fishery industry and creation of generous and comfortable fishing communities with beautiful landscape, improvement of infrastructure for the fishery industry and improvement of welfare such as living environment including disaster prevention, transportation, telecommunication

sanitation, education and culture etc should be promoted (Article 30) Exchange between

urban areas and fishing communities (Article 31) Enhancement of understanding of and interest in the fishery industry and fishing communities for the nationals and strengthening the multilateral function of fishery industry and fishing communities should

be promoted (Article 32)

These provisions indicate that support programs and promotion activities in a variety

of aspects are intended for management of fisheries It is noted that livelihood and welfare

environment, infrastructure, sanitation, education and culture etc in fishing communities

are recognised in the national policy for fisheries development and management

Administrative agencies and organisations for fisheries: It is one of the policies to

promote improvement of administrative agencies and their operations as well as restructuring

and improvement of organisations for fisheries {e.g restructuring and merger of fishers’

cooperative associations and fishery-related organisations) (Article 33 and Article 34)

Fishery Policy Council (Chapter 4): It is also one of the most important provisions of

the Act that the Fishery Policy Council shall be established for fisheries management policy formulation at the national level (Article 35) The Council is composed of members with academic knowledge and experiences appointed by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Article 37) The Council is consulted by and makes recommendations to the Minister and deals with the matters authorised by the Fishery Act and most fishery-related acts (Article 36) The relationship between the Council and the national government is similar

to that between a sea-region fishery regulation commission and a prefectural government, however, fishers are not a majority of the council members and, therefore, the system at this level is not co-management

3.4.1 Basic Plan for Fisheries and policy of national government

The Basic Plan for Fisheries is established as a guideline for a comprehensive and deliberate promotion of the policies for fisheries pursuant to the Fishery Basic Law The current plan describes the importance of the following matters in its overview These are definitely corresponding to statements in the Fishery Basic Law

1 promotion of recovery and management of resources which stay currently at a low level,

2 development and maintenance of business entities with international competitiveness and establishment of recruitment framework in fisheries,

3 implementation of measures relevant to processing, marketing and consumption to intend stable supply of fishery products,

4 development and extension of new technology for clear-cutting the future fisheries,

5 comprehensive development of fishing ports, fishing grounds and fishing communities and promotion of the multilateral functions of the fishing industry and fishing communities, and

6 revision of fishery policies including restructuring and improvement of fishery-related

The current plan includes a variety of issues and measures for fisheries development and management fiom the above viewpoints It is, however, being revised (in 2012) because the current plan was established in 2007 and 5 years have passed and the circumstances around

fisheries have been drastically changed due to the large earth quake and tsunami disaster in

eastern Japan in 2011 and others

4 MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AT PREFECTURAL LEVEL

The prefectural fishery regulation nrles have been established on the basis of the Fishery Act and the Fishery Resource Protection Act The purpose of the rules is; ‘to aim protection and propagation of fishery resources, enforcement of fisheries and other regulations of fisheries and to intend establishment of the order of fisheries in each prefecture (Article 1, the Fishery Regulation Rule of Kagoshima Prefecture)’ A fishery regulation rule deals with only marine fisheries, while inland fisheries are dealt by an Inland Fishery Regulation Rule which is also established by each prefecture In order to segregate these, the rule dealing with marine fisheries is named as a Marine Fishery Regulation Rule in some prefectures

Readers of a prefectural fishery regulation rule can understand that management of fishing effort quantity and relevant procedures are the main roles of the prefectural governments in fisheries management The structures of the rules and prescribed matters are similar among prefectures This is because the prefectural fishery regulation rules shall

be established under the national system and they shall receive approval by the national authority, as explained earlier Contents of the rules are, however, different in details due to differences in geographical conditions and on-going fishing activities For example, provisions regarding anadromous resources which appear in northern waters in Japan are not included in the rules of most prefectures in the southern region, and those regarding tmsplantation of foreign species which is a relatively new issue does not necessarily appear

in all marine fishery regulation rules

From another viewpoint, contents of the provisions of fishety regulation niles are eategorised into; (1) provisions similar to or almost repetition of a provision of the Fishery Act or the Fishery Resource Protection Act, (2) procedural definitions relevant to the provisions ofthe Acts and (3) provisions in detail which appear only in the prefectural rules.The following explanation is based on the mle ol'Kagoshima Prefecture which is included

in this textbook as an example Management of inland fisheries is dealt separately from a fishery regulation rule in Kagoshima Prefecture

4.1 Outline of fishery management system by prefectural government

The fisheries under the management by a prefectural government are categorised into Governor-Permit Fisheries (fisheries which a prefectural governor grants permits on the basis ofthe prefeetural fishery regulation rule) and legislative governor-permit fisheries (fisheries which a prefectural governor grants permits on the basis ofthe number of permits allocated

by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries).

There are a variety of fisheries in the category of the governor-permit fisheries, e.g in Kagoshima Prefecture, small-scale purse seine, powered boat seine, coral, gochiami

small-scale Danish seine, lift-net, gillnet, fixed gillnet, scoop net, dolphin fish tree-made aggregation device fishery, diving-devised fishery, small-scale set-net fishery, pot fishery and spanner-crab tangle-net fisheries Even in the case of fisheries categorised in the above technically, they are exempted from the prefectural fishery regulation rule when the>' ؛ire undertaken within the range of a common fishery right where they are managed under a fishery right exercise rule established by licensed fishers’ cooperative association

As explained in the next Chapter, management measures instructed by the sea-region fishery regulation commission are characterised as co-management They are not issued by a prefectural government There are designated fisheries operated by fishers in the prefecture ass well, however, they are directly managed by the national government and are not covered b؛،' the prefectural fishery regulation rule

4.2 Fishery Regulation Rule in Kagoshima Prefecture (as an example)

The fishery regulation rule of Kagoshima Prefecture is composed of four Chapters, i.e (1)

‘General Provisions’, (2) ‘Fishery Permit’, (3) ‘Protection and Propagation of Fishery

Resources and Enforcement etc." in Fisheries and (4) ‘Penal Provisions’, which are

followed by the ‘Supplementary Provisions’ (Fishery regulation rule of all the prefectures are

of the same format in principle) The Chapter 2 mainly deals with management of quantity

of fishing effort, while the first half of Chapter 3, management of quality of fishing effo rt

It is important to understand the structure of fishery regulation rules, including the relationship with the Fishery Act and Fishery Resource Protection Act In the following explanation, the order of provisions and items has been intentionally changed for easy/ understanding of the contents of a prefectural fishery regulation rule

4.2.1 Fishery Permit (Chapter 2)

Outline of prefectural governor permit: A prefectural governor may grant permits

pursuant to the Fishery Act and the Fishery Resource Protection Act The prefectural fisheiy/ regulation rule provides mainly administrative procedure for and contents of a permit The؛ contents of a fishery permit refer to a type of fishery, gross tonnage of a vessel, horse power

of a propulsion engine, an operation area and an operation period in principle (Article 15 and Form No 4 and No 5 of the fishery regulation rule of Kagoshima Prefecture) A fisheiy/ permit is valid for 3 years (Article 9)

The fishery regulation rule deals with the maximum number of permits etc (Article 25).,

approval of business commencement (Article 21 and Article 22), restriction or conditions to at

permit etc (Article 14), criteria of a permit etc (Article 26), qualification pertaining to a permit etc (Article 24), procedural matters for application to a permit and issuance oif

certificate of a permit (Article 8, Article 10 and Article 16 through to Article 19 and Form؛ N o

4 and No 5), prohibition of operations in violation of contents of a permit (Article 15),

change or revocation of a permit etc or suspension of operation etc for fishery regulation etc

(Article 32) These reflect that the rule manages the quantity of fishing effort on the basis of the permit system The terms appearing here are the same to those provided in the Fishery Act There is a technical provision such as marking of a permit number on a vessel’s superstructure (Article 13)

The fishing activities covered by the governor-permit system are categorised into two

groups, i.e those on intended species and fishing gear/methods The typical ones of the

former group are juvenile yellow-tail fishery and coral fishery, while the latter, small-scale purse seine fishery using a vessel less than 5 gross tonnage, powered boat

seine fishery, gochiami small-scale Danish seine fishery, scoop net fishery using fishing

rights and small-scale set-net fishery There is a fishery defined on both viewpoints, such

as dolphin-fish tree-made aggregation device fishery (Article 7)

Fishers do not need to receive permits when they undertake fisheries under an umbrella of a fishers’ cooperative association who possesses a fishery right (Article 7) This is very important proviso corresponding to Article 8 of the Fishery Act

Limitation and conditions to permits etc (Maximum number of permits etc and

criteria): The prefectural governor may decide the maximum limit to the number of

fishery permits etc (Article 25) As one of the measures to ensure the above system,

persons who intend to receive a fishery permit but do not possess a right to use a vessel or major fishing gear at present have to receive approval of business commencement in advance (Article 21 and Form No 6) These provisions work for limitation and management

of the quantity of fishing effort Permits are granted only for persons possessing a qualification provided in the Rule and only when permits are not liable to concentrate to certain persons (Article 23) A fishery permit may be changed or added with a restriction

or conditions or may be revocated or an operation may be suspended, when necessary for protection and propagation of fishery resources or regulation of fisheries (Article 32)

In case the number of applications for a fishery permit etc exceeds the maximum

number, a criterion taking at least the following items into consideration is provided and

applied, on which permits etc shall be granted accordingly (Article 26); (i) conversion to

the concerned fishery in order to contribute to protection and propagation of fishery

resources or fishery regulation etc and (ii) intention for an employee in the concerned

fishery to be independent as a fisher Ftowever, persons who have presently a fishery permit are given priority The criterion is decided, considering at least; (i) states of operations in the concerned fishery, (ii) dependency on the concerned fishery for an applicant, and (iii) number of vessels of each applicant

These provisions for priority and considerations are needed for sustainability of livelihood of small-scale fishers but, on the other hand, it tends to make coastal fisheries

be an inflexible industry

4.2.2 Protection and propagation of fishery resources and enforcement etc (Chapter

3)

The fishery regulation rule provides for the matters related to management of fishing aetivities and conservation of fishing ground environment, focussing on management of quality of fishing effort under the title of ‘Protection and Propagation of Fishery Resources

and Enforcement etc in Fisheries’ Flowever, contents are limited as follows.

Catch size limitation: Restriction to body lengths etc is defined to surf-clam, Paphia shellfish spp., Sa'cer scallops, itayagai scallops, black-lip mother of pearl shell, mabe mother of pearl shell, abalone, tokobushi abalone, lobster species, eel and yellow-iail

(juvenile) respectively (Article 36) Possession and sale of catches in violation of the restriction are also prohibited The reason why the size limitations are mainly applied to those other than fmfishes is conjectured that selective harvest and releasing of under-size catch alive is easy for shellfishes and crustaceans

Closed season by species: Periods of prohibition of harvest are provided by species

respectively for; abalone, tokobushi abalone, spanner crab, lobster spp., ayu fish and

ryukyu-ayu fish (Article 35) Possession and sale of catches in violation of this restricton

are also prohibited

Restriction or prohibition of fishing gear or methods: With respect to technical

regulations to fishing, harvesting by using electric shock underwater is prohibited (Article 37) This provision together with prohibition o f using explosives and poisonous substances in the Fishery Resource Protection Act is corresponding to the prohibition of destructive fishing practices in the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries

Mesh size regulations are provided for small-scale powered boat bottom seine for

kuruma prawn, teguri seine net and sail trawl fisheries (Article 38) The legal mesh sizes

in the rule are given in setu which is a traditional mesh size unit in Japan (the number of knots included in 151mm of a stretched net; therefore greater setu numbers stand for

smaller mesh sizes)

There is a regulation to technical factors in the fishing gear structure, such as a beim installed with skids and a pair of otter-boards is prohibited in the small-scale powe.ed boat bottom seine fishery (Article 38-2) In this case, even loading them aboard fo a small-scale powered boat bottom seine fishery is illegal

The number of fishing light boats in a fleet and the total electric power of fish ng lights a boat are restricted in the small-scale purse seine, medium-scale purse seine, lift net, stick-held dip net, angling and scoop net fisheries (Article 43) It is noted that all vessels possessing fishing light equipment are assumed to be fishing light boats, no matter

if a boat is specifically designed as a fishing light boat only for gathering fish technicilly

or not

Other restrictions and limitations: Other restrictions and limitations are provided maiily

by a combination of a fishing ground, operation period and a type of fishery Fishing groind

areas and periods are restricted for the sail trawl Class-1 teguri seine and flying fsh

drift-net fisheries (Article 40) This is mainly due to exclusive occupation of a fishing ground in operation in those fisheries and for the purpose to avoid conflictions with other fisheries Harvesting by utilising lights or nets in the vicinity of a specifically prescribed river mouth is prohibited (Article 42) This is to avoid influences to migration of fishery

animals and other fisheries Operations of the Class-1 teguri seine fishery at night are

prohibited (Article 41) This is to avoid excessive fishing effort

Marker flags and buoys: The fishery regulation rule provides the method of placement

o f marker flags and buoys to show the position of fishing gear in the set-net (Article 54 and Form No 12), longline and gillnet fisheries in detail (Article 55) on the basis of Article 72, the Fishery Act (Article 52) In the case of the set-net fishery, it is conjectured to aim safety of navigation for other ships In the case of the longline and gillnet fisheries, a gear owner is requested to put his/her name and address on markers It serves for avoidance of confliction among fishers in deploying fishing gear and to indicate a person responsible to the fishing gear Indication of a fishing gear owner on fishing gear is strongly requested in implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and is assumed to be a measure to reduce derelict fishing gear and consequent ghost fishing, though the intention

is not described in the rule

Recreational fisheries: The term of recreational fisheries does not appear in the

prefectural fishery regulation rule It is referred to as harvesting fisheries animals and plants other than fishing activities conducted by fishers or fishery employees or those for the purpose of survey and researches (referred to as a Special Harvesting Permit; Article 46, Form No.9 and No 10) (Article 45) Fishing gear and methods for recreational fishing are

restricted to; (i) pole and line fishing and handline, (ii) scoop net and sadeami dip-net, (iii)

cast net (not using a vessel), (iv) spear, peeler and harpoon, or (v) harvesting by hands while walking This is very strict limitation in comparison to the cases in other countries

Harmful impacts to aquatic environment: Abandonment or leakage of substances

harmful to fishery animals and plants is prohibited (Article 34) Violators may be ordered placement of equipment to remove the interference or change equipment placed already, when it is judged harmful to protection and propagation of fishery resources Spallation of

a rock reef or collection of sand, stones or rocks etc in a fishing ground where a fishery

right has been established is under permission by the prefectural governor (Article 44 and Form No 8) These are relatively lax provisions from a viewpoint of avoidance of negative impacts to fishing grounds and habitat environment

4.2.3 Enforcement and Penal Provisions

A permitted person may be ordered to anchorage a vessel (Article 47) or boarding of a captain or a master fisherman may be prohibited (Article 48), when it is judged that there

is a fact of violation of laws and regulations etc for fisheries and there is a necessity for

enforcement in a fishery A vessel with no permit may be ordered to unload fishing gear, fishing devices or other fishing equipment (Article 50)

A person who violated the rule shall be punished with imprisonment with labour, fine, petty fine or cumulative imposition of these (Article 57) Catches, their products, a fishing vessel, fishing gear or other objects of an offender to be used for harvesting fisheiy animals and plants may be confiscated or money of an equivalent amount is collectable in case confiscation is impossible (Article 57) In case a permitted person violated laws and regulations for fisheries or proceedings on the basis of these provisions, a permit or approval may be changed, added with a restriction or conditions, or revocated or an operation is suspended (Article 32).

4.2.4 Fishery Regulation Commission

It is noted that the matters of the prefectural fishery regulation commission are not dealt in the prefectural fishery regulation rule with exceptions of provisions relevant to consultation by the governor to the commission in the process of his/her decision making This is because the commission is established pursuant to the Fishery Act, therefore, a prefectural government has no authority to provide pertaining to the establishment or authority of the commission

Instructions by the fishery regulation commission are not regulations by the prefectural government legislatively, however, fishers seem to feel that these are similar

as a matter of fact Instructions by the fishery regulation commission will be explained in the next chapter

5 FISHERY MANAGEMENT AT FISHERS’ LEVEL

The participation of fishers in coastal fisheries management in Japan appears in; (1) regulations and recommendations by and consultation to the sea-region fishery regulation commissions, and (2) management of fishing operations under a fishery right exercise rule established by a fishers’ cooperative association licensed for a common fishery right In addition, the role of self-management which does not appear in official regulations and rules is also important because of the long history o f management of quality and quantity

o f fishing effort by fishers which has been referred to as ‘self-restrictions’

5.1 Instructions by sea-region fishery regulation commission

In many prefectures, the sea-region fishery regulation commission has instructed restrictions to harvesting fishery animals and plants for protection and propagation of fishery animals and plans and fishery regulations For example in Kagoshima Prefecture, the sea-region fishery regulation commission instructs catch size limitations as; harvesting red sea-bream not greater than 13cm and olive flounder not greater than 25cm in TL are prohibited

In the waters in Kagoshima Bay and the southern region of Satsuma Peninsular, ground bait using krill and angling by using an attached cage of ground bait (referred to as bakudan

or bomb angling locally) are prohibited The latter also applies to the water of Kumage

Region The locality names in the above are geographical ones, however, their borders are precisely defined in the prefectural fishery management.

The measures, species and fisheries which appear in the instructions are different among prefectures, reflecting local characters of the major resource species and fishing activities Catch size regulations apply mainly to high value or specialty species of respective

prefectures, such as red sea-bream, olive flounder, tiger puffer etc.

5.2 Fishery right exercise rule

Common fishery right: The types of common fishery rights in the Classes are defined in

the Article 6 of the Fishery Act Roughly speaking, the Class 1 common fisheries are those aiming at algae and sedentary animals; Class 2, static net fishing; and Class 3, mobile gear fishing and those utilising artificial reef The Class 4 common fisheries are those developed specifically in some localities and almost disappearing nowadays A small-scale set-net which

is different from the large-scale set-net fishery in net depth is categorised in the Class 2 common fishery

Fishery right exercise rule: A fishers’ cooperative association which is a common

fishery right holder shall decide the matters relevant to the qualification of a person who undertakes a fishery under its fishery right, and the area where and the period when the fishery is undertaken, methods of a fishery and other matters which its partners shall observe

in the fishery right exercise rule (Article 8 of the Fishery Act) A fishery right exercise rule shall be validated by approval by a prefectural governor (Article 8 of the Fishery Act) It is very important with respect to understanding coastal fisheries management in Japan that these are provided in the Fishery Act and implemented by fishers as part of the national system.This textbook shows examples of fishery right exercise rules of three associations; namely

Eguchi, Tanegashima and Yamagawa-cho Fishers’ Cooperative Associations, which are all

located in Kagoshima Prefeeture These associations are licensed for Class 1 to Class 3 common fisheries and have established two rules; as Class 1 and Class 2/Class 3 rules respectively Fishery right exercise rules are not very large in many cases, being consisted of about ten articles The rule for Class 1 of which fisheries are smaller in scale is usually simpler than that for Class 2 and Class 3

In accordance with the provision of Article 8 of the Fishery Act, all the rules include provisions of the qualification for a person possessing right to undertake fisheries (Article 2 in

the case of Class 2 and Class 3 Common Fishery Right Exercise Rule of Eguchi Fishers’

Cooperative Association; the same applies to the following artiele numbers unless otherwise

specified) and the methods etc for fisheries including a fishing area, a fishing period and

fishing methods (Article 4) The contents of these articles are very similar amongst associations

The provisions for the purpose (Article 1), prohibition of delegation of operation (Article 3), decision of persons who undertake fisheries (Article 5), matters to be considered in this decision-making (Article 6), share of expenses for management of fishery right (Article 7)

and measures to violators (Article 8) are also commonly included in the rules To the provision for fishing area, fishing period and fishing methods, a proviso is added as; ‘directors may restrict a method of a fishery, number of operation units, area or period in the case that they judge it is necessary’ When a partner violates a law, regulation or rule for fisheries, an association may impose a fine for default The reason why provisions on decision of persons who undertake fisheries and matters to be considered in this decision-making are always included in the rules is, perhaps, this decision is one of the most important matters in a community.

Catch size restrictions are provided in a rule sometime (Article 6 of the Class-1 Rule of

Tanegasima Fishers’ Cooperative Association) In the case of an association which has

established a Management Committee, a relevant provision or provisions are included (Class

2 and Class-3 Rules of the Yamagawa-cho and Tanegashima Fishers’ Cooperative

Associations) In particular, there is a provision that the management committee is authorised

in decision of persons who undertake fisheries which is very important for fishers

Status of technical management: Provisions for management of quality of fishing effort

such as, prohibition of and restrictions to fishing methods or fisheries are the major component of management by fishers’ cooperative associations In this regard, there is a

variation in administrative methods; i.e to provide in a fishery right exercise rule, to establish

an incidental rule or to decide other agreements separately

For example, Eguchi Fishers’ Cooperative Association provides for fishing methods, a

number of units of fishing gear, an operation area and an operation period in the exercise rule and, in addition, technical details of operations are decided in a separate written document

(Conditions to Fishing Operations of Eguchi Fishers’ Cooperative Association)

Yamagawa-cho Fishers’ Cooperative Association provides for fishing methods, a number of

units of fishing gear, an operation area and an operation period precisely in the exercise rule

In the case of Tanegasima Fishers’ Cooperative Association, an agreement of which

legislative status is clear as Fishery Right Exercise Agreement has been established Even when the measures are not prescribed in a fishery right exercise rule, those established on the basis of the articles of association, fishery right exercise rule or resolution of a general meeting are assumed to be management within the legislative framework (Article 8 of the Fishery Act and Article 11, Article 11-2 and Article 48 of Fisheries Cooperative Association Act)

The present system in Japan enables flexible and detailed management measures suitable

to local needs and reality For example, entire closure of a fishing ground such as an MPA is possible by combined application of restrictions to a fishing period and area as a provision

of Article 4-2 of the Class 2 and Class 3 Rule of Yamagawa-cho Fishers’ Cooperative

Association This case is deemed to be based on the Fishery Act because of establishment in a fishery right exercise rule which is part of the national management system

There are initiatives for associations sharing common resources over fishing grounds

to discuss and to harmonise their measures for resource management

5.3 Resource management rule

An association which conducts management of fishery resources and propagation of fishery animals and plants as its business may establish a resource management rule (Article 11-2 of the Fisheries Cooperative Association Act) The resource management rule shall include provisions pertaining to the covered water area, types of fishery resources, categories of fisheries and management method It is also provided that the contents of a resource management rule shall be consistent to a fishery right exercise rule when it exists This is very useful proviso for co-management in coastal fisheries, however, it has not been established very much as a formatted decision because it is not a compulsory definition On the other hand, the authority of fishers’ cooperative associations in resource management seems to be widely recognised and a various fashions of measures are accepted by partners in reality

5.4 Self restrictions by fishers in fishery management

Internal rules, agreement and mutual understanding, other than a fishery right exercise rule, among partners of a fishers’ cooperative association or among members of a sector group (a group of fishers undertaking a certain fishery in an association or over associations) have been referred to as a ‘self-restriction’ Their legislative status is different from a case to case

When an agreement etc is decided in accordance to and referred in a fishery right exercise

rule, it must be assumed to be a legislatively established rule pursuant to Article 8 (Right of Association Partner to Undertake Fishery) of the Fishery Act When it is clearly established

by a fishers’ cooperative association {e.g to have been decided at a general meeting or a

board of directors of an association), it must be also a legislatively established rule pursuant to Article 11 (Categories of Business) of the Fisheries Cooperative Association Act They are assumed to have no legislative status otherwise The contents are also of a variation The major regulations in self-restrictions are enlargement of a mesh size, a limit to fishing operations a day, a closed season, a closed fishing ground, release of under-size catches and

so forth Beeause of a small size of a group of decision-making and variations in legislative statuses and contents, no comprehensive data base regarding self-restrictions is available In the Fishery Basic Plan established on the basis of the Fishery Basic Law, it is stated as one of the State policies as; ‘self-restrictions implemented on agreements among the concerned persons shall be converted to official regulations gradually when possible’

Many fishers’ cooperative associations have a youth group and women’s group of partners They are usually active to carry out technical tests and development toward rational fishing

operations and resource management, e.g development of a bycatch reduction device (BRD)

or releasing female crabs brooding eggs, or development of value-added products Sector

groups of fishers also actively introduce fishing regulations, e.g mesh size limitation and

redistribution of fishing effort, as a self-restriction for resource management

The major laws for fisheries management at the national level, namely the Fishery Act, Fishery Resource Protection Act, Fishery Industry Cooperative Association Act and Fishery Basic Law are translated In the Fishery Act, the provision and table for replacement of the terms in mutatis mutandis application of the Public Offices Election Act are excluded from translation from a viewpoint of the purpose of this textbook Any national administration agencies in Japan including the Ministry of Justice and the Fisheries Agency are entirely not responsible to this translation.

I National Laws for Fisheries Management

Chapter I General Provisions (Article 1 though to 5)

Chapter II Fishery Right and Piscary (Article 6 though

Chapter VI Fishery Regulation Commissions

Section 1 General Provisions (Article 82 and 83)

Seetion 2 Sea-Region Fishery Regulation

Commissions (Article 84 through to 104)

Section 3 United Sea-Region Fishery Regulation

Commission (Article 105 through to 109)

Section 4 Extended Sea-Region Fishery Regulation

Commission (Article 110 through to 114)

Section 5 Miscellaneous Provisions (Article 115

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Supplementary Provisions ا ا ١ﻻ

(Purpose of this Act)

Article 1 This Act purposes to establish a basic

institutional system for fisheries production, to utilise

waters comprehensively through operation of fishery

regulation mechanisms mainly by fishers and fishery

employees, and, thereby, to enhance fisheries

productivity and also to democratise the fishery

industry

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1) ا7ا١ا

ا ة ﺆ ﻴ ﺗ ا ﺔ ﻫ(Definitions)

Article 2 In this Act, a ‘fishery’ refers to a business of

harvesting or culturing fishery animals and plants

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(2) In this Act, a ‘fisher’ refers to a person who 2 C 0 ( i# ،c jo V ٢١ ' t i t

undertakes fisheries, and a ‘fishery employee’ refers to

a person who is engaged in harvesting or culturing

(3) In this Act, a ‘powered fishing vessel’ refers to a

vessel equipped with a propulsion engine, which falls

under any of the following items

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(i) a vessel exclusively engaged in fisheries - 1 ﺀد؛ﻪﻟ 1 ،:ﺄﻴﻏ ٠ 1 ﺔﻫ'ف ة

(ii) a vessel engaged in fisheries and possessing

equipment for preserving catches or processing

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(iii) a vessel for exclusively transporting catches or its —

(iv) a vessel exclusively engaged in experiments, E fssurveys, guidance or training concerning fisheries or a G <

vessel engaged in law enforcement in fisheries and .9

possessing fishing equipment

(Scope of Application)

Article 3 The provisions of this Act shall not apply to

waters not provided for public uses, unless otherwise

specifically provided

(ill)

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Article 4 This Act shall apply to waters which are not

provided for public uses but are connected to waters

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which are provided for public uses and form an integral

part of them

(Joint Application)

Article 5 When two or more persons intend to apply

jointly concerning the matters provided in this Act or in

an Order pursuant to this Act, one of them shall be

appointed as a representative, and it shall be notified to

the administrative agency The same shall apply also

when a representative was changed

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(2) When notification set forth in the preceding

Paragraph is not made, an administrative agency shall

designate a representative

(3) A representative shall represent co-partners in

relation with an administrative agency

2

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(4) The provisions of the preceding three Paragraphs

shall apply mutatis mutandis in the case where two or

more persons have Jointly acquired a fishery right or

mortgage or piscary for this

T M f i X i i S A ١^

L < i i A M ^ L ؛::

Chapter II Fishery Right and Piscary

(Definition of Fishery Right)

Article 6 In this Act, a ‘fishery right’ refers to a

set-net fishery right, a demarcated fishery right and a

common fishery right

7

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(2) The ‘set-net fishery right’ refers to the right to

undertake a set-net fishery; the ‘demarcated fishery

right’, the right to undertake a demarcated fishery; and

the ‘common fishery right’, the right to undertake a

r.ifcr# M fiJ^ v ١ v ١ ١

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(3) The ‘set-net fishery’ refers to a fishery undertaken

with a set-net which falls under any of the following

items

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5

(i) a fishery in which the deepest part of a place where a

body net is fixed is 27 meters or more (15 meters in

Okinawa Prefecture) in depth at the time of the highest

high tide (excluding a pound net fishery in the Seto

Inland Sea (referring to the Seto Inland Sea provided in

Paragraph (2), Article 110) and an otoshi-ami set-net

fishery and a pound net fishery in the Mutsu Bay

(referring to the water surrounded by the straight line

between Cape-Yakeyamazaki, Aomori Prefecture and

h/W A ± x h ô h ( x (m

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v١9 ٥ ) A J b T tS ^ A P a iS â É A i::

the lighthouse at Capc-Myojingasaki, the said i: ٠ )

Prefecture and the shore)

(ii) those catching mainly salmon in Hokkaido

(4) The ‘demarcated fishery’ refers to a fishery which

falls under any of the following items

(i) Class 1 demarcated fishery; An aquaculture farming

undertaken in a certain area, laying stones, roof tiles,

bamboos, trees, etc.

(ii) Class 2 demarcated fishery: An aquaculture farming

undertaken in a certain area surrounded by soil, stones,

bamboos, trees etc.

(iii) Class 3 demarcated fishery: An aquaculture

farming undertaken in a certain area other than those

prescribed in the preceding two items

(5) The ‘common fishery’ refers to a fishery which falls

under any of the following items and are undertaken by

commonly utilizing a certain water

(i) Class 1 common fishery; A fishery aiming at algae,

shellfishes, or other sedentary fishery animals

designated by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and

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(ii) Class 2 common fishery: A fishery undertaken with

a net fishing gear (including a weir and fish pound) laid

statically, other than a set-net fishery and the fisheries

prescribed in item (v)

(iii) Class 3 common fishery; A beach seine fishery,

beach drag-net fishery, boat seine fishery (excluding the

fisheries using a powered fishing vessel), feed and

scmi-domesticate fishery or artificial reef fishery

(excluding the fisheries prescribed in item (i)), other

than the fisheries prescribed in item (v)

(iv) Class 4 common fishery: A fish aggregating fishery

or boat angling fish aggregating with birds fishery,

other than the fisheries prescribed in the following item

(v) Class 5 common fishery: Fisheries undertaken in an

inland water (excluding the lakes and marshes

designated by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and

Fisheries) or at the sea equivalent to the lakes and

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marshes designated by the Minister of Agriculture,

Forestry and Fisheries, other than the fisheries

prescribed in item (i)

(Definition of Piscary)

Article 7 In this Act, a ‘piscary’ refers to the right,

based on the act of establishment, of undertaking a

fishery wholly or in part in a fishing ground which is

the content of another person's common fishery right or

of the demarcated fishery right for a bamboo-installed

aquaculture farming, algae aquaculture farming,

suspension-type aquaculture farming (referring to an

aquaculture farming of suspending fishery animals with

ropes, steel wires, or other similar materials; excluding

pearl aquaculture farming), fish pen aquaculture

farming (referring to an aquaculture farming of fishery

animals using net creels or other creels), or shellfish

aquaculture farming as a class 3 demarcated fishery

(hereinafter, referred to as the ‘specific demarcated

fishery right’)

(Right of Association Partner to Undertake Fishery)

Article 8 A partner (limited to a fisher or a fishery

employee) of a Fishers’ Cooperative Association, who

falls under the qualification provided in the Fishery

Right Exercise Rule or the Piscary Exercise Rule

established respectively for demarcated fishery right,

common fishery right or piscary held by the concerned

Fishers’ Cooperative Association or by a Federation of

Fishers’ Cooperative Associations to which the

concerned Fishers’ Cooperative Association belongs as

a partner has the right to undertake a fishery within the

range of the concerned demarcated fishery right,

common fishery right or piscary

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(2) A Fishery Right Exercise Rule or a Piscary Exercise

Rule set forth in the preceding Paragraph (hereinafter,

simply referred to as a ‘Fishery Right Exercise Rule’ or

a ‘Piscary Exercise Rule’) shall provide the matters

relevant to the qualification of a person who has the

right to undertake a fishery pursuant to the said

Paragraph, and also the area where and the period when

the fishery is undertaken, regarding the fisheries which

are the contents of the concerned fishery right or

piscary, methods of the fishery and other matters a

person who possesses the right to undertake the

concerned fishery shall observe when they undertake

the concerned fishery

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(3) A Fishers’ Cooperative Association or a Federation

of Fishers’ Cooperative Associations shall, when it

intends to establish a Fishery Right Exercise Rule for a

specific demarcated fishery right or a common fishery

right of which content is the Class 1 common fishery

which it possesses, receive a written consent of two

thirds or more of the partners (the partners of the

Fishers’ Cooperative Associations which are the

partners of the Federation of Fishers’ Cooperative

Associations, in the case of a federation; hereinafter, the

same shall apply) who undertake the fishery which is

the content of the concerned fishery right at the time of

licensing of the fishery pertaining to the concerned

fishery right (who undertake a coastal fishery (referring

to the fisheries excluding fisheries undertaken by using

a powered fishing vessel of 20 gross tons or more and

the fishery in inland waters; hereinafter, the same shall

apply) in the case where the area of the fishing ground

pertaining to the concerned fishery right is a water other

than inland waters (excluding the lakes and marshes

designated by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and

Fisheries pursuant to the provision of Paragraph (1),

Article 84; hereinafter, the same shall apply with an

exception of Paragraph (1), Article 21) with respect to

the specific demarcated fishery right and the common

fishery right covering the Class 1 common fishery

established as those possessing the qualification

pursuant to the provision of Paragraph (6), Article 14;

who undertake a fishery in inland waters other than

rivers in the case where the area is the concerned inland

waters; or who harvest or culture fishery animals and

plants in a river in the case where the area is the

concerned river) and who have addresses in the area of

the local district provided in Article 11 pertaining to the

concerned fishery right (the related district provided in

the said Article in the case of a common fishery right),

before a resolution in the general meeting (including a

sectional meeting of the general meeting and a

representatives' meeting) provided in the Fisheries

Industry Cooperative Association Act (Act No 242 of

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(4) In the case of the preceding Paragraph, when it is

provided in articles of association that voting rights may

be exercised by an electromagnetic method (referring to

an electromagnetic method provided in Paragraph (4),

Article 11-2 of the Fisheries Industry Cooperative

Association Act) pursuant to the provision of Paragraph

(3), Article 21 of the said Act (including the case of

niutatis mutandis application in Paragraph (3), Article

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89 of the said Act), the consent regarding the concerned

Fishery Right Exercise Rule may be received by the

concerned electromagnetic method in lieu of the

concerned written consent In this case, the concerned

Fishers’ Cooperative Association or Federation of

Fishers’ Cooperative Associations shall deem to have

received the concerned written consent

fchx>

(5) The concerned consent regarding the concerned

Fishery Right Exercise Rule received by an

electromagnetic method prescribed in the former

sentence of the preceding Paragraph (excluding the

method prescribed in an Ordinanee of the Ministry of

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries under Paragraph (5),

Article 11-2 of the Fisheries Cooperative Association

Act) shall be deemed to have arrived at the Fishers’

Cooperative Association or Federation of Fishers’

Cooperative Associations when recording in a file

equipped in a computer used by the concerned Fishers’

Cooperative Association or Federation of Fishers’

Cooperative Associations has been made

(6) A Fishery Right Exereise Rule or the Piscary 6

Exercise Rule shall not be valid unless approved by a

(7) The provisions of Paragraph (3) through to

Paragraph (5) shall apply mutatis mutandis to change or

abolition of a Fishery Right Exercise Rule pertaining to

a specific demarcated fishery right or a common fishery

right of which the content is a Class 1 common fishery

and the provision of the preceding Paragraph shall

apply mutatis mutandis to change or abolition of a

Fishery Right Exercise Rule or the Piseary Exercise

Rule In this case, ‘who undertake a fishery which is the

content of the concerned fishery right at the time of

lieensing of the fishery pertaining to the concerned

fishery right’ shall be deemed to be replaced with ‘who

undertake a fishery which is the content of the

concerned fishery right’

7

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(Prohibition of Set-Net Fishery etc not Based on

Fishery Right)

Article 9 A set-net fishery and a demarcated fishery

shall not be undertaken unless they are based on a

fishery right or a piscary

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(License of Fishery)

Article 10 The person who intends to have a fishery

right established, he/she shall file an application with a

Prefectural Governor and receive a license ^ ^ If ^ ^ ، t 4' ، t l

-(Advanced Decision of Matters etc of Licenses)

Article 11 A Prefectural Governor shall, regarding the

water of his/her jurisdiction, when he/she finds that

licensing for a fishery which is the content of a fishery

right is necessary in order to seek comprehensive

utilisation in fisheries and to maintain and enhance

fishery productivity and that fishery regulation and

other public interests will not be impaired even if the

license of the concerned fishery is granted, consult a

Sea-Region Fishery Regulation Commission regarding

the license of the concerned fishery and decide the type

of fishery, locations and areas of the fishing ground, the

fishing season and other matters to be the eontents of

the license, the scheduled licensing date and application

filing period, in the case of set-net fishery and

demarcated fishery, and either the local districts (the

district to which the fishing ground of the concerned

fishery is deemed to belong on the basis of natural and

soeioeconomic conditions) or the concerned district in

the case of a common fishery

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(2) A Prefectural Governor shall consult a Sea-Region

Fishery Regulation Commission and may change the

matters which are the contents of a license decided

pursuant to the provision of the preceding Paragraph,

the scheduled lieensing date, the application filing

period, or the local district or concerned district

2

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(3) A Sea-Region Fishery Regulation Commission may

express opinions to a Prefectural Governor to the effect

that the matters which are the contents of a license

pursuant to the provision of Paragraph (1), the

scheduled licensing date, the application filing period,

and the local district or concerned district should be

decided

3

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(4) When a Sea-Region Fishery Regulation

Commission intends to express the opinions of the

preceding three Paragraphs, the commission shall

convene a public hearing at the date and place publicly

notified in advance, and consult the persons of relevant

interests

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(.٦) When a Prefectural Governor has decided or

changed the matters whieh are the contents of a license

pursuant to the provision of Paragraph (1) or Paragraph

(2), the scheduled licensing date, the applieation filing

period, and the local district or the concerned district

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he/she shall publicly notify this.

(6) The Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Minister

shall, from a viewpoint of extended region beyond a

préfectoral area, when he/she finds it specifically

necessary for protection of reproduction of fishery

animals and plants, for ensuring appropriate exercises

of a fishery rights or piscary, for preventing or settling

disputes concerning the usage of fishing grounds and

for other matters for regulating fisheries, may instruct a

Préfectoral Governor to decide or change the matters

which are the contents of a license pursuant to the

provision of Paragraph (1) or Paragraph (2), the

scheduled licensing date, the application filing period,

and the local district or concerned district

tKÈ[»

Article 11-2 A Prefectoral Governor shall make a

decision pursuant to the provision of Paragraph (1) of

the preceding Article, in the case where the duration of

a fishery right in a water in which the concerned fishery

right currently exists expires, by three months before

the expiration date of the concerned duration and in

other cases, by three months before the scheduled

licensing date

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(Consultation with Sea-Region Fishery Regulation

Commission)

Article 12 When an application for a license set forth

in Article lO was filed, a Prefectural Governor shall

consult a Sea-Region Fishery Regulation Commission ؟ iV١٥ 3

(Cases where License is not Granted)

Article 13 In case where an application falls under

any of the following items, a Prefectural Governor may

not grant a license of a fishery

(i) in the case where an applicant is not a person

possessing the qualification provided in Article 14

(ii) in the case where an application which is different

from the contents of a license of a fishery publicly

notified pursuant to the provision of Paragraph (5),

Article 11 is filed

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(iii) in the case where there is a possibility to result in

unduly concentration of fishery rights of which the

contents are the fishery same to the fishery pertaining to

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iv) in the case where the land of the fishing ground for E ،t 9 L A 6 it

(

which the license is desired to be granted is owned by

another person or the water for which the license is

desired to be granted is exclusively possessed by

another person, when there is no consent of the owner

of the land or the possessor of the water

(2) In the case of item (iv) of the preceding Paragraph,

when no consent is obtained because the address or

residence of the person is not known, the consent of the

person may be replaced with permission by a court

pursuant to the procedure established by the Supreme

Court

::5

2

(3) With regard to the judicial decision on the

permission set forth in the preceding Paragraph, an

appeal may be made pursuant to the procedure

established by the Supreme Court

3

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(4) The owner or possessor of item (iv) Paragraph (1)

may not reject his/her consent unless a justifiable

reason

4

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(5) A Sea-Region Fishery Regulation Commission

shall, when the commission intends to express an

opinion to a Prefectural Governor to the effect that the

license of a fishery should not be granted pursuant to

the provision of Paragraph (1), notify the concerned

applicant in writing with the reason falling in one of the

items of the said Paragraph and shall hear his/her

opinion publicly in advance

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(6) In the event of hearing an opinion set forth in the

preceding Paragraph, the concerned applicant or his/her

agent may vindicate and submit evidences with respect

to the concerned business

؛؛^i|® t،;i|^L X ii١

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(Qualification for License)

Article 14 A person possessing the qualification for a

license of a set-net fishery or demarcated fishery shall

be a person falling under none of the following items

)

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(i) a person who was judged to be extremely lacking

compliance to observe the laws and regulations relevant

to fisheries or labour or to impede démocratisation of a

fishing village, by two thirds or more of all the

commission members as a result of voting at a

Sea-Region Fishery Regulation Commission

the provision of the preceding item is liable to rule

substantially the business management of the fishery

pertaining to the application, irrespective of the pretext,

by two thirds or more of all the commission members as

a result of voting at a Sea-Region Fishery Regulation

Commission concerned

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(2) With regard to a license of the demarcated fishery

which is a content of a specific demarcated fishery

right, the Fishers’ Cooperative Association which

includes the local district provided in Article 11

(hereinafter, simply referred to as a ‘Local District’) in

its district wholly or in part or the Federation of Fishers’

Cooperative Associations of which a member is the

Fishers’ Cooperative Association and which does not

undertake the fishery which is the content of the

concerned specific demarcated fishery right shall be

qualified, only if falling under those prescribed in the

following, notwithstanding the provision of the

preceding Paragraph Flowever, a Fishers’ Cooperative

Association, in which a person qualified to be a partner

pursuant to the provision of Paragraph 4, Article 18 of

the Fisheries Industry Cooperative Association Act are

limited to persons undertaking a specific type of fishery

and Federation of Fishers’ Cooperative Associations of

which the members are such Fishers’ Cooperative

Associations shall not be qualified

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(i) that of which the number of households to which the

partners who have addresses in the local district and

undertake the concerned fishery belong is two thirds or

more of the number of households to which the persons

who have addresses in the local district and undertake

the concerned fishery belong

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(ii) in the case where two or more jointly filed an

application, that of which the total number of

households to which the partners who have addresses in

the local district and undertake the concerned fishery

belong is two thirds or more of the number of

households to which the persons who have addresses in

the local district and undertake the concerned fishery

belong

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(3) In the case where a Fishers’ Cooperative

Association or a Federation of Fishers’ Cooperative

Associations of which the partners are the persons who

have addresses in the local district of the preceding

Paragraph and undertake the concerned fishery

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