Japan's Delicacy of Eel Faces Global Conservation Pressure: What Does the Future Hold for "Unaju"?

1. Why "Eel" Has Become an International Issue Now

A long-established eel restaurant near Tokyo.
Scenes of friends and families gathering around eel rice bowls as a "reward for oneself" are familiar in Japan.

However, behind these dining tables, international tensions over eel resources are rising.

According to the latest reports, about 85% of the world's eel consumption occurs in East Asia, primarily in Japan, with Japan importing about three-quarters of the approximately 61,000 tons consumed in East Asia.Phys.org

Meanwhile, the global eel population is on a declining trend, with scientists pointing out that factors such as pollution, wetland destruction, construction of hydroelectric dams, and fishing, all human activities, are having a complex impact.Phys.org

Although eels are often thought of as "river fish," they actually spawn in the deep sea, and their larval stages and migration routes remain mysterious, making them "mysterious fish."
This makes it difficult to accurately estimate resource levels, posing management challenges in determining "how much is too much to catch."Phys.org+1

In other words, eels now have two faces: "a symbol of Japanese food culture" and "a wild animal at high risk of extinction."

2. Japanese People and Eels: From "Stamina Food" to Gourmet Delicacy

When Japanese people hear "eel," many think of the savory grilled kabayaki coated in sauce.

The eel culture, said to continue from the Edo period,

• is a craftsmanship known as "three years to skewer, eight years to fillet, a lifetime to grill."

• It has long supported Japanese food culture as stamina food to survive the hot summer (known as "Doyo no Ushi no Hi")

• and as a feast for special occasions and celebrations.

However, in recent years, it is shifting from a popular stamina food that anyone could easily eat to"a luxurious dish to enjoy only when you've done something special."

In the restaurant covered, the price of eel rice bowls has more than doubled in about 15 years, exceeding 5,000 yen.Phys.org
Nevertheless, there are testimonies that customers accept it as "expensive but worth it."

The background includes

• poor catches of glass eels and rising prices,

• resource depletion due to overfishing and environmental degradation,

• and moves to strengthen regulations due to endangered species designation.

Japanese eel culture has already become something that "may be lost if not protected."

3. The Life of an Eel and Why Resource Assessment is Difficult

The unique life cycle is essential when discussing eel resource management.

In the case of the Japanese eel,

• the spawning ground is in the waters west of the Mariana Islands, about 2,000 to 3,000 km away from the Japanese archipelago.

• The larvae (leptocephali) born there ride ocean currents

• and transform into transparent juvenile eels called "glass eels" as they approach the coasts of Japan and East Asia.

• They enter rivers and lakes, growing in freshwater for about 5 to 15 years.

• After maturing, they return to the open sea spawning grounds, spawn, and end their life.

This involves an incredibly long journey.Phys.org+1

Due to this long and complex life cycle,

• it is extremely difficult to grasp how many eggs are being laid and where,

• how survival rates in the sea are changing,

• and how environmental changes affect the number of glass eels joining rivers.

Moreover, eels are "catadromous fish (spawn in the sea and grow in rivers),"
and human activities such as dam construction, river modification, and reclamation of tidal flats and wetlands can physically block migration routes.
Phys.org+1

In other words,
"we don't even clearly know at which stage and how much eels are decreasing,"
is the biggest issue.

4. The Sense of Crisis Indicated by the IUCN Red List

In response to this situation, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

• has listed the Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) as "Endangered"

• and the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) as "Critically Endangered"

on the Red List.Wikipedia+1

For the European eel, it is said that the resource amount has decreased by more than 90% over the past few decades,
and the EU has banned exports outside Europe since 2010.FishSec+1

The Japanese eel was also designated as an endangered species in 2014 due to resource depletion, human impact, and uncertainty in migration routes.iucn.org+1

Subsequently, the Japanese government

• has been working on domestic legislation, such as amending the Inland Water Fisheries Promotion Act

• and enacting laws to ensure proper trade of specific aquatic animals and plants (commonly known as the "Eel Trade Regulation Law").

• Strengthening penalties for unauthorized glass eel capture

Wikipedia

Nevertheless,
the international opinion remains harsh, questioning whether "endangered species are being consumed in large quantities,"
and the discussions at the current CITES meeting symbolize this.

5. What is CITES (Washington Convention)? What Happens if Listed in Appendix II

CITES (Washington Convention)
is an international treaty aimed at "ensuring that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival."

The focus this time is on
listing in Appendix II.

If listed in Appendix II,

• "International trade is possible but only if the exporting country proves that the trade does not threaten the species' survival."

• Countries issue export permits (and import permits if necessary), and the volume and routes of trade are recorded.

These rules apply.Oceans North+1

In other words,
it is not a "complete ban on exports and imports," but procedures and monitoring become significantly stricter.

In "Proposal 35" submitted by the EU, Panama, Honduras, and others,
it is requested to list all 17 species of the genus Anguilla, including Japanese eel, American eel, and European eel, in Appendix II.sustainableeelgroup.org+1

The aim is

• to prevent "substitution" between similar-looking eel species,

• to prevent species banned for export in one region from being disguised as species from another region,

• and to track all species under the same framework to enhance traceability.

6. Japan's Position: Reasons for Cautious Regulation Strengthening

On the other hand, the Japanese government opposes this proposal.Phys.org+1

The main reasons include

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