Climate change affects fisheries resources and fisheries/aquaculture through rising sea water temperatures due to global warming. It has caused changes to the distribution areas of Pacific saury and Japanese flying squid and a lower return rate of salmon, among other matters.

In 2023, “Study Sessions on Ideal Fisheries Adaptable to Changes in the Marine Environment” were held. On the basis of the outcome that the study sessions reached, measures to realize the following matters are to be promoted: 1) enhancement and sophistication of research on resources and stock assessment; 2) combination and switching of fishing methods and fishing target species; 3) concurrent engagement in aquaculture or switching thereto; and 4) processing, distribution, etc., that can accommodate changes and expansion of fisheries species.

This study examines the impact of declining salmon catches due to changes in the marine environment on Fisheries Cooperative Association in Iwate Prefecture. The analysis revealed a 99.4% drop in salmon catches in 2022 than approximately 25 years ago. Contrarily, catches of sardines, yellowtail, and mackerel have increased. This shift has led to reduced profits of fisheries cooperative associations which, consequently, has weakened various profit-sharing functions. To enhance future outcomes, fishing seasons should be adjusted to target abundant fish species. Furthermore, adopting labor-saving measures and upgrading fishing nets are essential for securing profits.

Recent environmental changes have been impacted on local fisheries, forcing them to respond to fluctuations and alternations of fishery resources. Suttsu town, located on the west coast of Hokkaido, recently faces severe decline of sand eel fishery. The crisis is exacerbated by the increasing bycatch of juvenile herring, which destroys the commercial value of sand eel. The herring fishery in Suttsu thrived until the early 20th century. The sand eel fishery, spatio-temporally overlapped with the herring fishery, was intensified to compensate for the loss of herring, thus increasing the economic importance of sand eel production. The recent competition between depleting sand eel and recovering herring should also be discussed in terms of extending the long-term dynamics of the social-ecological relationships.

This paper aims to investigate how the regional response to red tide occurrence is made in the aquaculture in Nyuzu District, Saiki City, Oita Prefecture. In this district, the periodical monitoring by administration and research institute and seminar about red tide by research institute were conducted. However, management entities did not necessarily depend on this collaboration system but both acknowledged red tide occurrence through appropriate channel and utilized their knowledge as needed acquired from the seminar to respond to red tide occurrence. Therefore, it can be concluded that in Nyuzu District, the regional response is made with the collaboration system among various actors utilized selectively by the situation management entities faced.

Local fisheries are restricted by bioproductivity and biodiversity in fishing ground environments. In particular, fishing ground environments in closed water areas are undergoing significant changes not only from natural causes, but also from human activities. These cause quantitative and qualitative changes in fishery resources, affecting the fishery production, fishery management, and fishery product distribution of local fisheries in various ways. Taking the characteristics of closed water areas into account, in this paper, we aimed to clarify the changes in local fisheries associated with changes in fishing ground environments and investigated the characteristics of local fisheries and future challenges to cope with environmental changes in case of Lake Kasumigaura, Tokyo Bay, and Seto Inland Sea.

Local fisheries are facing problems caused by ocean environmental change. The 66th Symposium, under the theme of “Local Fisheries under Marine Environmental Change,” featured reports by experts and a general discussion. This report introduces comments and questions and answers from the general discussion.