Japan and eight other economies agreed Thursday to reduce this year's catch quota for saury in the northern Pacific by 10% to 202,500 tons.
The decrease reflects low catches linked to overfishing and changes in the marine environment.
The nine economies reached the agreement at an annual gathering of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission.
At the previous meeting, in April 2024, participants agreed to introduce a rule to calculate catch quotas based on data and to keep changes within 10% of the previous year's quotas. Under the rule, the 2025 saury catch quota in the high seas was cut by 10% to 121,500 tons.
The total saury catch volume in the northern Pacific in 2024 came to roughly 150,000 tons.
The catch quota for mackerel in the high seas was reduced by around 30% to 71,000 tons. Japan had argued for the quota to be cut by half.
"It's not a sufficient measure," Takumi Fukuda of Japan's Fisheries Agency said at a news conference. "We will work to strengthen resources management."
Tokyo had also proposed setting a catch quota for pilchard, but the economies failed to reach an agreement on it.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.