Abstract
The fishery governance system in Japan, characterized by the fishery rights system as detailed in the Fisheries Act, has primarily contributed to ensuring the sustainability of small-scale fisheries, fishing communities, the fundamental viability of fishers’ livelihoods, and social justice by guaranteeing them an exclusive and independent right to fish. The Fisheries Act was significantly amended in 2020, with the original Fisheries Act legislating the “minsyuka (democratization)” of fisheries in its provisions. However, the new Fisheries Act removed this language and placed much greater emphasis on resource management and fishery efficiency (Li et al., Unlocking legal and policy frameworks for small-scale fisheries in Japan. In Kerezi, V., Nakamura, J., El Halimi, M., and Chuenpagdee, R. (Eds.) Unlocking legal and policy frameworks for small-scale fisheries: global illustrations. TBTI global publication series. St St. John’s. Accessed 16 Feb 2022, 2020). The stated reason for the deletion of the word is that minsyuka has already been achieved (Fisheries Agency, Partial revision of the Fisheries Act Q&A. Accessed 20 Jan 2023. In Japanese. https://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/kikaku/kaikaku/attach/pdf/sankou-13.pdf, 2019), which means the certain control of the fishing grounds and the use of fishing grounds by a small group of fishers, which was problematic and undemocratic in the past, has been eliminated and solved. However, one must understand that the word minsyuka is more than just “eliminating some power control.” It could function to ensure that fishers operate independently, have their subsistence and fishing rights safeguarded, participate in decision-making processes, and more. This chapter argues that behind such movements is a lack of appropriate governance principles. It focuses on this new Fisheries Act, examining it from the perspective of small-scale fisheries sustainability. The analysis suggests a need to reimagine governance principles in Japan where there is a danger of losing what is important in fishery governance – securing the rights of the people who depend on small-scale fisheries and life above water – under the current situation with the rise of “equal” thinking, efficiency-oriented thinking, and the waning of important principles including the Difference Principle and minsyuka, as well as increasing awareness of the SSF Guidelines across the whole country and their conscious promotion.
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Acknowledgments
This work was partially supported by the Vulnerability to Viability (V2V) Global Partnership (Grant number 895-2020-1021) and a project of the Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Grant number 20353867) as well as JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (19 K06250).
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Li, Y. et al. (2024). Where Has the “Minsyuka (Democratization)” Gone? A Thorough Assessment of the New Japanese Fishery Act from the Perspective of Small-Scale Fishery Sustainability. In: Nakamura, J., Chuenpagdee, R., Jentoft, S. (eds) Implementation of the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines . MARE Publication Series, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56716-2_17
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