Land-based salmon farm to start shipping as early as 2024 (provided by Proximer in Oyama Town, Shizuoka Prefecture)- Yomiuri Shimbun

Flounder, salmon, kuruma prawns, growing prospects for 'RAS' land-based aquaculture notification system

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has decided to introduce a notification system to the government from April next year for operators of land-based aquaculture that produce fish and shellfish in tanks installed on land. As marine resources are declining, land-based aquaculture is expected to grow because of its stable production. In order to provide full-scale support, the company wants to ascertain the scale of production by business operators and the types of seafood.

The proposal will be included in the government ordinance revision bill for the Inland Water Fisheries Promotion Act, which will be presented at an expert meeting on the 12th of this month. We are aiming for a cabinet decision in January next year.

Marubeni Corporation and Proximar Seafood AS reached an agreement that Marubeni will be the exclusive distributor in Japan for all the Atlantic salmon produced by the closed recirculating aquaculture system (hereinafter, “RAS”) which Proximar is constructing in Japan -->

Under the revised bill, businesses that farm edible seafood in seawater or salt water will be obliged to submit notifications. Even in the case of fresh water, if it is drained without removing food, etc., it is included. Already in 2014, a notification system (currently a permit system) was introduced for eels for the purpose of resource management, but other seafood was excluded.

Land-based aquaculture has been entering the market one after another in recent years. According to an estimate by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, there are about 300 businesses, mainly for flounder, rainbow trout and tiger prawns. Another reason is that there is no need to obtain fishing rights, unlike marine aquaculture.

In November of this year, Kansai Electric Power Co. began shipping vannamei shrimp from a land-based aquaculture farm it built in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Location of Proximas RAS Salmon facility in Japan close to Mount Fuji outside Tokyo

Marubeni plans to start selling Atlantic salmon produced at a farm in the prefecture by Norwegian aquaculture company Proximer Seafood as early as 2024.

In the "Fisheries Basic Plan" formulated in March this year, the government set a goal of turning aquaculture into a growth industry, aiming to increase the self-sufficiency rate of edible seafood from 57% in fiscal 2020 to 94% in fiscal 2032. It is hoped that the expansion of land-based aquaculture, which still accounts for a small proportion of fisheries production, will lead to an increase in the self-sufficiency rate.

Kansai Electric Power has opened one of the largest shrimp farms in Japan (Iwata City, Shizuoka Prefecture)

Regarding land-based aquaculture, it was discovered that a vannamei shrimp farm in Okinawa Prefecture, where an infectious disease of crustaceans was confirmed in 2020, discharged water from tanks into the sea without disinfecting it. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries also wants to introduce a notification system to strengthen guidance for businesses with problems.It was discovered that a vannamei shrimp farm in Okinawa Prefecture, where an infectious disease of crustaceans was confirmed, was draining the water from the tank into the sea without disinfecting it. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries also wants to introduce a notification system to strengthen guidance for businesses with problems.

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun (translated from original in japanese)

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