Japan Approves Scrapping of 19 Distant-Water Tuna Longliners for IOTC Compliance

Japan’s Fisheries Agency approved an implementation plan on 27 February that will remove 19 distant-water (deep-sea) tuna longline vessels from the fleet by the end of March, the agency told Undercurrent. The action is framed by reporters as part of international efforts to curb fishing capacity in the Indian Ocean and to comply with measures from the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission.

SeafoodNews says the plan was submitted by the Japan Tuna Fisheries Co-operative Association and approved "in accordance with the International Fisheries Reorganization Measures." SeafoodNews’ account adds that the reduction in vessels will be by 19 and, citing Minato Shimbun, that the measure "will strengthen the protection of tuna resources in the Indian Ocean, particularly bigeye tuna."

Undercurrent’s coverage uses the phrase "distant-water tuna longline" and carries a headline characterizing the move as being under an "IOTC 30% capacity cut"; the body text supplied reads, "Japan will scrap 19 distant-water tuna longline vessels by the end of March after authorities approved an industry-led capacity reduction plan tied to international efforts to curb fishing capacity in the Indian Ocean, the Fisheries Agency told Undercurrent." The 30% figure appears in Undercurrent’s headline only in the material supplied here and has not been confirmed by the other excerpts.

SeafoodNews notes that the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission adopted a plan to reduce fishing capacity at its annual meeting in April last year. The SeafoodNews passage supplied states, "At its annual meeting in April last year, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) adopted a plan to reduce fishing capacity," which frames Japan’s approval as a domestic implementation step tied to that IOTC decision.

Key operational details remain unspecified in the available reporting. The supplied materials do not name which 19 vessels or owners will be scrapped, do not state the method or location of scrapping, and do not say whether owners will receive compensation. The legal instruments or domestic rules used to carry out the removals beyond the phrase "implementation plan" and "International Fisheries Reorganization Measures" are not included in the supplied text.

The timeline in the supplied material is explicit: IOTC action at an April meeting last year is cited as the international trigger, Fisheries Agency approval occurred on 27 February, and the physical removal or scrapping of the 19 vessels is slated to be completed "by the end of March." Verification with the Fisheries Agency approval document, the Japan Tuna Fisheries Co-operative Association on which vessels are affected, and the IOTC decision text from the April meeting will be necessary to confirm the 30% figure and details of implementation.

If carried out by the end of March, the removal of 19 distant-water (deep-sea) tuna longliners will be the concrete fleet reorganization step Japan has put on record in the supplied accounts to align domestic longline capacity with the IOTC capacity-reduction push and, according to SeafoodNews citing Minato Shimbun, to bolster protection of bigeye tuna in the Indian Ocean.