Photo/Illutration Hiroko Sasaki, a food journalist, and members of Chefs for the Blue, a group of top chefs at renowned restaurants, hold a news conference in Tokyo after making a proposal to the Fisheries Agency in May. (Mitsuko Nagasawa)

A coalition of Japan’s top chefs, alarmed by the decline in available fish, visited the head of the Fisheries Agency to call for surveys into the state of the nation’s aquatic resources.

The group, known as Chefs for the Blue, noted that multiple factors are causing fish populations to decline, including ongoing climate change and overfishing on a global scale.

The group believes that the government needs to first survey fish populations to understand and address the crisis.

“It would be extremely difficult to restore natural resources and fishing techniques once they are lost,” said Shuzo Kishida, a chef at the French restaurant Quintessence, one of the five chefs who visited the agency in May.

Chefs for the Blue was formed seven years ago to help create a “sustainable ocean.” It is led by Hiroko Sasaki, a food journalist, and includes about 40 chefs from globally ranked and Michelin star restaurants across Japan.

Lobbying the government to conserve fishery resources has been one of the group’s goals since its founding.

The group submitted a five-point proposal to the agency head, Takeshi Mori, based on the chefs’ daily experiences securing fine ingredients, their inspection tours of local ports and their discussions with their colleagues.

The remaining four chefs who met with Mori were Ken Sakamoto from the Italian restaurant Cenci; Takaaki Sugita from the sushi restaurant Nihonbashi Kakigara-cho Sugita; Ryohei Hayashi from the Japanese restaurant Tenoshima; and Tomoya Kawada from the Chinese restaurant Sazenka.

Although masters of different types of cuisine, they all agree that having fresh, high-quality fish caught in Japanese waters is essential to their cooking, as it allows them to offer seasonal dishes and regional specialties.

The group’s first proposal is for the government to study the size of fish populations in the waters around Japan and strengthen oversight on fishery resources.

In addition to studies on fish caught in large quantities, such as Japanese sardines and common mackerel, the group proposes surveys on fish species that, while caught in smaller numbers, are integral to local economies and cultures.

The group also urged Japan to swiftly reach an international agreement on the conservation of bonito, a fish that is indispensable for making soup stock, the essence of Japanese cuisine.

Japanese traditional cuisine, known as “washoku,” was registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage 10 years ago. It maintains an irresistible appeal for foreign tourists, who are once again visiting Japan in droves after the coronavirus pandemic.

While chefs are aware of tourists’ desires for culinary experiences unique to Japan, they are faced with the reality that large fish are not appearing as often as before in Japanese markets, prices are surging and the fishing culture is disappearing.

Sasaki said the group members hope their actions will drive home the momentous issue of fisheries resource conservation.

“Many consumers know about the poor catch of Pacific saury in recent years, but few understand the increasing urgency of addressing the entire issue of shrinking fisheries resources,” she said.

In June, the group is expected to go to Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture, to learn about the state of bonito fishing.

Hayashi said that chefs should push for conservation of bonito resources and also use their sophisticated cooking skills to develop a new way of creating soup stocks without bonito.

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