Another reason to love high gas prices
Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images The Japanese fishing industry is in dire straits, the LA Times reports: If we lose our fishing industry, we Japanese will face a food crisis,” said Masahiko Ariji, a fishery specialist at the Amita Institute for Sustainable Economics in Kyoto. About two-thirds of the nation’s fishing groups were in the red last ...
Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images
The Japanese fishing industry is in dire straits, the LA Times reports:
If we lose our fishing industry, we Japanese will face a food crisis," said Masahiko Ariji, a fishery specialist at the Amita Institute for Sustainable Economics in Kyoto. About two-thirds of the nation's fishing groups were in the red last year, he said. With fuel prices higher this year, some "are about to collapse." [...]
The Japanese fishing industry is in dire straits, the LA Times reports:
If we lose our fishing industry, we Japanese will face a food crisis,” said Masahiko Ariji, a fishery specialist at the Amita Institute for Sustainable Economics in Kyoto. About two-thirds of the nation’s fishing groups were in the red last year, he said. With fuel prices higher this year, some “are about to collapse.” […]
If fuel prices keep rising, as many as 20% of Japan’s fishing companies will close and 85,000 fishermen could leave the industry, the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Assns said. The fish catch, it says, could fall by almost half.
On balance, the fact that the Japanese fishing industry is suffering isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If the trend keeps up, high gas prices might end up saving Pacific fisheries from imminent doom where regulation and conservation have failed. Add this one to the list.
More from Foreign Policy


Is Cold War Inevitable?
A new biography of George Kennan, the father of containment, raises questions about whether the old Cold War—and the emerging one with China—could have been avoided.


So You Want to Buy an Ambassadorship
The United States is the only Western government that routinely rewards mega-donors with top diplomatic posts.


Can China Pull Off Its Charm Offensive?
Why Beijing’s foreign-policy reset will—or won’t—work out.


Turkey’s Problem Isn’t Sweden. It’s the United States.
Erdogan has focused on Stockholm’s stance toward Kurdish exile groups, but Ankara’s real demand is the end of U.S. support for Kurds in Syria.