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JFS Newsletter No.175 (March 2017)
Copyright Yui Fisherman's Association All Rights Reserved.
We often hear on the news that fish catches are decreasing all over the world. At the same time, initiatives to realize sustainable fisheries have been implemented here and there. In Japan, three fisherman's associations in Shizuoka Prefecture have used a "pooling system" for more than 40 years to run a sustainable fishery and protect marine resources. They are in the towns of Yui, Kambara, and Oigawa, facing Suruga Bay, which is renowned for its sakura shrimp (spotted shrimp) fishery.
The pooling system is designed to allow all member boats to operate, and shrimp fishing revenues are distributed evenly to each boat. In the shrimp fishing season, a fishing control committee discusses the fishing details of the day, such as catch quota of the shrimp, and fishing site, before going fishing every day. Each boat reports each yield by radio, and when the total yields reach the quota set by the committee, the operation of the day is ended. A sales commission is deducted from the total earnings, and the rest is split: 47% for boat owners and 53% for crew members. Each portion is distributed equally based on the number of boat owners and the number of crew members respectively.
Copyright Yui Fisherman's Association All Rights Reserved.
Japan for Sustainability introduced the sakura shrimp fishery in Suruga Bay through an interview published in its December 2005 newsletter.
JFS Newsletter No. 40 (December 2005): Efforts for Sustainable Fishery
http://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id027808.html
More than ten years have passed since that interview. Since then, how have the initiatives of this fishery changed? We visited Suruga Bay again to ask Junichi Miyahara, head of the Yui Fisherman's Association, about the current status and initiatives.
Copyright Aleph Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Aleph Inc., a Japanese company that manages "Bikkuri Donkey" and other family restaurants, announced on November 7, 2016, that its Hokkaido factory became certified to ISO 50001, an international standard for energy management systems (EnMS). The factory will seek to accelerate its energy use reductions by establishing a work culture in which employees routinely propose ideas for improvement.
An EnMS enables organizations to systematically manage their energy use through a series of iterative steps that include setting policies, objectives and targets, followed by developing plans and processes. ISO 50001 specifies the requirements for an EnMS. It requires organizations to set targets and measures with evidence-based figures, document actions, and change business practices to reflect the results.
The Hokkaido factory of Aleph introduced new rules under the system: set reduction standards based on analysis of present conditions, develop action plans and reduction targets with evidence-based figures, conduct an annual internal audit, and implement and document corrective actions when nonconformities in the EnMS are found. The factory aims to achieve reduction targets for five key elements focused on equipment operation in fiscal 2016, the year the factory was first certified.
Starting in fiscal 2017, the company plans to increase the involvement of factory staff in the EnMS by incorporating new ideas from the factory floor for reducing energy use.
Copyright Aleph Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright Veteran Mothers' Society All Rights Reserved.
Tohoku Fukko Nikki (Tohoku Reconstruction Diary), a weekly feature in the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper, delivers news stories on reconstruction efforts in communities devastated by earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011. The articles are written through the JKSK Yui-Yui Project, an initiative to support survivors of the 2011 disaster by the non-profit organization JKSK Empowering Women Empowering Society. This time, we present an article published in the October 4, 2016, issue that describes the uncomfortable and inconvenient living conditions of people who have returned to their homes since the evacuation order was lifted.
Odaka Ward in Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture, is known as the former location of Odaka Castle, sometimes called Ukifune Castle, which Daimyo Soma, a feudal lord, used as his seat of government until the age of provincial wars in Japan. On the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Odaka area became a ghost town: Its location inside the evacuation zone--everywhere within a 20-kilometer radius from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant--required residents to evacuate with only the barest necessities. They must have felt a great deal of bewilderment and hesitation. The order was at last lifted on July 12, 2016--five years and four months after the nuclear accident. Compared to the town's population of 13 thousand before the earthquake, those who decided to return numbered less than a thousand. Most were elderly.
One returnee is a woman in her late 70s, a member of the knitting circle that I organize. She returned to her home along with her husband, who had a strong desire to move back, leaving other family members behind. The next neighbor lives about 500 meters away. She complains about the darkness around her house in the evening. She can't drive. The closest supermarket is 15 kilometers away. Several stores have opened in front of the station but she has to walk 30 minutes to get there. That makes her daily life inconvenient.
She says, "I ask my daughter to bring fresh fish when she comes." Her daughter visits every weekend. "We can't expect to grow rice again. Our rice paddies are damaged by salt from the tsunami," she bemoans. "Now, at my age, I have to buy rice from other people. I never once imagined I'd being doing that." When she comes to the knitting circle, her husband drives her. She smiles and tells me, "On the way home, we'll stop at the supermarket and I'll enjoy my first shopping trip in a long time."
Another woman in the knitting circle returned to Odaka with her mother-in-law, who is far older than 90, and her husband, who became ill after the disaster. She says, "I quit farming. Boars, hogs, and monkeys increased in number during the evacuation. They damage all the crops and vegetables." She tells us that coming to the knitting circle and chatting with circle members comforts her the most.
Though the evacuation order has been lifted, the life of people who have returned to their hometowns is still far from tranquil. Their stories make me realize once again how terrible the accident we experienced really is.
Sachiko Bamba, Representative, Veteran Mothers' Society
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