Japan: Another favorite dish going
extinct By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO - A revered tradition during Japan's
hot and humid summer is eating broiled eel, a dish
believed to induce energy. But this year, the item
has been elusive on menus following a decision by
the European Union to slash eel exports.
Facing stock depletion, Europe is
considering a move to have the trade in eels
restricted under the Washington Convention that
protects endangered species in the world.
European exports, mostly juvenile eel
caught off the coasts of
France and Spain and then
dispatched to countries such as China for
cultivation, account for between 50% to 70% of
Japanese consumption, now around 100,000 tons per
year.
The Japanese media, quoting data
from Europe, say recent annual catches have been
less than 200 tons. Some estimates indicate that
stocks have fallen to about 1% of those available
in the 1970s.
Catches in Japan, despite
its eel-eating tradition, constitute only about
20% of domestic consumption. Catches of young eels
in Japanese waters have plunged to around 20 tons
to 30 tons - about one-tenth the figure in the
1970s, mostly due to coastal destruction.
Yoko Tomiyama, spokeswoman for the Japan
Consumers Association, points out that the eel
crisis, the newest in a series of blows to
Japanese traditional cuisine that includes the
high-profile slump in blue-fin tuna for
sushi, has brought home a stark message
that must be acknowledged and tackled quickly.
"The threat to eels this summer symbolizes
a crisis we had chosen to ignore but cannot any
longer. It shows, very cruelly, that the Japanese
are steadily losing their food supply and also
that money cannot buy everything,'' she told Inter
Press Service (IPS).
Tomiyama, who
spearheads a consumer movement based on caring for
the environment, safe food and boosting local
agriculture output, explains that the Japanese
consumer has been led to believe their rich
purchasing power gives them access to
anything.
But as cherished food items begin
to disappear, said Tomiyama, people are waking up
to the reality that the government must develop
policies that balance both corporate purchasing
power and respect for conservation.
Indeed, the ongoing whaling dispute, that
has pitched Japan against anti-whaling countries,
is a case in point say conservationists.
Japan is angry that its proposal for a
review of the whaling ban at the CITES (
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) at the Hague,
last week, was turned down.
"Anti-whalers
are totally illogical because they put
environmental protection above everything else,"
Hideaki Okada, an official at the whaling section
at the Ministry of Fisheries explained to IPS.
He rejected claims that the whaling
proposal was an attempt to reopen commercial trade
of whale products. "Japan wants a review to find
out which species should be put on the endangered
list and what types can be harvested. Our proposal
is to develop a trade that is based on the
sustainable use of resources, not just blanket
protection," he said.
The defeat at the
Hague has led Tokyo to threaten to leave the
International Whaling Commission. Japan has also
embarked on a campaign to promote the sale of
whale meat in the country, terming it traditional
and culturally rooted.
Conservationists
think otherwise. Professor Hideo Obara, a
respected biologist, said the official stance is
dangerous as it resorts to nationalism to defend
practices that are based on the belief that
technology and economic strength are an answer to
food issues.
"For example, Japan's
scientific whaling is allowed on the assumption
that killing whales is necessary to collect
accurate data on the species. This works against
the policy that endangered populations can only be
resurrected by just stopping harvesting," he
explained. Under scientific whaling, 360 minke
whales are caught annually in the Sea of Japan and
the North Pacific.
Obara added that Japan
is not the only guilty nation and other Asian
countries, such as China and South Korea, are also
following similar policies leading to over fishing
in the Pacific Ocean.
Sophisticated
fishing technology and trawler boats showcasing
Japanese advancement has led to marine
destruction, say conservationists. Experts also
point out that developing sophisticated fish
farms, now heavily subsidized by local
governments, is not easy.
For example, a
fisheries research center in collaboration with
Kinki University in Wakayma prefecture, west
Japan, has spent millions of dollars on an
advanced breeding program, first launched in 1970,
to boost the endangered blue-fin tuna.
Last year, the tuna bore eggs for the
first time but commercial production is expected
to take much longer.
Said Tomiyama,
"Japan's food culture should be protected not by
officials pushing new technology or a call to
nationalism. Rather, modern culture and tradition
must include education and the deeper values of
preserving our environment," she said.
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