Broiled eel, a dish that is traditionally enjoyed throughout Japan on the Midsummer Day of the Ox, may again be out of reach for many people this year.
According to a Fisheries Agency announcement on May 30, the total amount of elvers (young eel) presently being cultivated in Japan dipped to around 12 tons by the end of April -- an additional 25 percent decrease over last year's already low figures.
As more than 99 percent of all domestically consumed eel are farmed, elver numbers have a direct impact on retail sales. While eel farmers' purchase price of one kilogram of elvers was around 300,000 yen in 2006, this year it rose to a staggering 2.6 million yen. The number of eel in circulation peaked in 2000 at 160,000 tons, dipping to 37,000 tons in 2012.
Due to rising farming costs coupled with the total shortage of eel, the wholesale price of live eel stood at 4,560 yen per kilogram during last year's shipping peak in July -- a 25 percent increase over the previous year's figures. The price hikes are being felt by consumers, who are now facing steeper eel prices both in specialty restaurants and at the supermarket. In some cases, grocery store prices for broiled eel have risen nearly threefold.
The consequence of such increases has been a reduction in consumption of the fish, with wholesale prices accordingly dropping from the high rate of nearly 5,000 yen per kilogram last May to 4,209 yen per kilogram this April -- although representing a 1.5-fold increase over figures from two years prior.
In an effort to rebuild the existing stock of eel and hold down prices, the Fisheries Agency began conducting ecological studies and releasing farmed eel last year. Major fishing areas including Aichi, Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures have accordingly implemented such measures as shortening the elver fishing season, and restricting the fishing of adult eel as they head downriver to spawn.
In addition to continuing high purchase prices being paid by eel farmers, poor fish catches have also been continuing throughout the whole of eastern Asia.
As a result, the price of imported eel -- which represent some 50 to 60 percent of the total number in circulation -- has taken an inevitable upswing as well. In China and Taiwan, which supply more than half of Japan's total overseas imports, the total amount of elvers has stagnated -- resulting in expectations for the total circulation in Japan to decrease this year compared with last year's total. "We see nothing to suggest that this year's retail prices will be decreasing," commented Fisheries Agency executives on May 30.
The Fisheries Agency has been holding discussions with China and Taiwan since last September aimed at undertaking joint resource management of the eels. Talks have not progressed beyond sharing fishing and breeding-related data, however, leading to increasingly urgent calls for international resource management.