Connect with us

Breaking

Endangered delicacy: Japan eel on species ‘red list’

Published

on

Japanese eels in a basket (ShutterStock image)

Japanese eels in a basket (ShutterStock image)

TOKYO — The Japanese eel, a popular summertime delicacy that has become prohibitively expensive due to overfishing, has been put on the international conservation “red list” in a move that may speed up Japan’s push for industrial farming of the species.

Japan’s agriculture minister urged that efforts to boost the eel population be stepped up after the International Union for Conservation of Nature this week designated the Japanese eel as “endangered,” or facing a very high risk of extinction.

Other species of eel are also facing various levels of threat due to habitat damage and overfishing.

The decision by the IUCN to put the Japanese eel on its red list could lead to global restrictions. Inclusion on the list can be the basis for trade restrictions under an international treaty on trade in endangered animals and plants.

“We must speed up efforts to build large-scale production systems,” Yoshimasa Hayashi, the minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, told reporters after the IUCN’s decision was announced.

Efforts to farm eels have made slow progress due to their complicated migratory patterns. Unlike salmon, which migrate inland to spawn but spend their lives at sea, eels are spawned in remote areas of the ocean and then migrate inland, only returning to the sea to reproduce.

The IUCN said various factors are believed to be hurting the species, including barriers along waterways, pollution and changes in ocean conditions.

Japan consumes more than two-thirds of all eel eaten, thanks partly to a tradition of eating roasted eel as tonic for the heat during the hottest days of summer. The delicacy is as much a custom of the season as watching fireworks, listening to wind chimes and eating watermelon.

Japanese eel are usually raised to adulthood after being caught as elvers, or glass eels. Although there are limits on catching elvers and juvenile eels, demand has soared, putting heavy pressure on the species, as well as many other fish stocks and pushing prices for elvers as high as $36,000 a kilogram.

In turn, prices for mature eels have soared, turning the traditional “kabayaki” roasted eel dish, with a tangy sauce on top, into a luxury rather than common household dining. A bowl of rice with a slice of roasted eel on top sells for $7-$10 at Tokyo’s Tsukiji market. Small packages of roasted eel sold in supermarkets sell for $15 or more.

The threat to eels has received much less attention than the crisis with some other species, such as Bluefin tuna.

Such issues will be among those discussed next week at a U.S.-led “Our Ocean” conference in Washington, D.C., said David Balton, a deputy assistant U.S. secretary of state.

“A third of all major fish stocks are overfished and another 50 percent are fished at their limit and are in danger of being overfished,” Balton said on a conference call. “The situation for fisheries around the world is not a good one. We need to act to end overfishing.”

Elvers are caught in rivers in Asia and other regions and provided as seed stock for aquaculture. They are a lucrative fishery for New England, in the U.S., where quotas have been set to prevent overfishing.

Japan put the Japanese eel on its own red list of species in danger of extinction last year. The IUCN said the population of all eels has declined by as much as 90 percent over the past 30 years.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Maria in Vancouver

Lifestyle3 hours ago

Family Estrangement: Why It’s Okay

Family estrangement is the absence of a previously long-standing relationship between family members via emotional or physical distancing to the...

Lifestyle1 month ago

Becoming Your Best Version

By Matter Laurel-Zalko As a woman, I’m constantly evolving. I’m constantly changing towards my better version each year. Actually, I’m...

Lifestyle2 months ago

The True Power of Manifestation

I truly believe in the power of our imagination and that what we believe in our lives is an actual...

Maria in Vancouver3 months ago

DECORATE YOUR HOME 101

By Matte Laurel-Zalko Our home interiors are an insight into our brains and our hearts. It is our own collaboration...

Maria in Vancouver3 months ago

Guide to Planning a Wedding in 2 Months

By Matte Laurel-Zalko Are you recently engaged and find yourself in a bit of a pickle because you and your...

Maria in Vancouver3 months ago

Staying Cool and Stylish this Summer

By Matte Laurel-Zalko I couldn’t agree more when the great late Ella Fitzgerald sang “Summertime and the livin’ is easy.”...

Maria in Vancouver4 months ago

Ageing Gratefully and Joyfully

My 56th trip around the sun is just around the corner! Whew. Wow. Admittedly, I used to be afraid of...

Maria in Vancouver5 months ago

My Love Affair With Pearls

On March 18, 2023, my article, The Power of Pearls was published. In that article, I wrote about the history...

Maria in Vancouver5 months ago

7 Creative Ways to Propose!

Sometime in April 2022, my significant other gave me a heads up: he will be proposing to me on May...

Maria in Vancouver6 months ago

Why Eating Healthy Matters

We are what we eat, so don’t be fast, cheap, easy, or fake — we should take these words to...