A quota system is forcing many fishermen to dump the prized sushi fish in the Pacific, squeezing their income
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenReutersPublished: 2:07pm, 8 Jul 2026In May, Japanese fisherman Tadasuke Nakamura noticed he had an abnormally large haul of bluefin tuna in his set net off the Pacific coast of Hakodate, on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.Hundreds of the prized sushi fish crowded the net, but he had to let many of them go.
Japan has an annual catch quota and if Nakamura had kept the haul he would have had no quota left for the colder months when bluefin tuna are fattier, tastier and fetch a higher price.
“It’s truly upsetting to have to release fish that are right there in the net,” said Nakamura, whose method of fishing involves anchoring large fixed nets close to the shore.
The phenomenon is another example of how climate change may be altering marine life, with serious consequences for those whose livelihoods have long depended on the sea. In Nakamura’s hometown of Hakodate, the fishing industry is already grappling with a severe decline in the population of the once ubiquitous squid.
