Japan, Russia, China and six other economies kicked off on Monday an annual meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission in Osaka to discuss this year's saury catch quota.
During the four-day meeting in the city through Thursday, participants are seen considering a quota reduction from last year to encourage a recovery in saury resources after poor catches that reflected past overfishing and changes in the maritime environment.
In the previous meeting in April 2024, the commission agreed to introduce rules to keep year-on-year fluctuations in the saury catch quota within 10% and start a system to automatically calculate appropriate quota levels based on data on resources.
Under the new rules, the members set their 2024 saury catch quota in the high seas in the northern Pacific at 135,000 tons, down from the previous year's 150,000 tons.
The overall quota across the northern Pacific was reduced from 250,000 tons to 225,000 tons, including 90,000 tons for the 200-nautical-mile zones of Japan and Russia, down from 100,000 tons.
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