Monitoring and Making the Most Efficient Use of

Special Feature 2
At Sea
Monitoring and Making the
Most Efficient Use of Skipjack
Tuna Resources with No Waste
Skipjack tuna—a fish dear to the Japanese people since ancient times.
It is one of the riches of the sea with an essential place in the Japanese kitchen,
from dried bonito flakes and skipjack stock to sashimi.
One of Ajinomoto Co., Inc.’s main products, HON-DASHI ®, has also supported home cooking in
Japan as a seasoning to complement skipjack stock since it went on sale in 1970.
In order that it will always be able to provide HON-DASHI ®,
the company has started activities to monitor the state of skipjack tuna resources.
It is also involved in R&D initiatives aimed at using this precious bounty of the seas as efficiently
as possible and without any waste, thereby attempting to create a seamless
recycling-oriented cycle of resources.
Initiatives to ensure a seamless cycle for the permanent and
sustainable utilization of marine resources
By-products are turned
into fertilizers for turf
and tea bushes
In the case of
HON-DASHI®
Nutrition
for people
Raw
materials
Nutrition for
plants and animals
Agricultural, livestock &
fishery products
Dried skipjack
Skipjack resources
research
The Ajinomoto Group makes careful and efficient use of the skipjack that is the
ingredient of HON-DASHI ® and delivers them to the dining table in the form of soup
stock, calcium and fish sauce. Moreover, the Group uses the heads and innards of
the fish in its nutrient-rich and organic Skipjack Liquid Fertilizer and processes it
into feeds to create beneficial products.
Web
There is a movie on our website explaining the relationship of the Group and
skipjack tuna. (Japanese only)
“A series of movies that introduce the Ajinomoto Group activities”
http://www.ajinomoto.co.jp/activity/theater/movie03.html
15
Ajinomoto Group Environmental Report 2010
T he Ajinomoto Group Initiatives “Work for Life”
overview
What is the current state of our fishery
resources?
Annual catch in the world’s oceans from 1950 to 2008
Catch (million tons)
100
As populations and food consumption have grown, the total catch
in the world’s oceans has quadrupled over the half-century since
the 1950s. This has resulted in global-scale overfishing, and it is
believed that around one third of fish species are caught in excessive
numbers, while approximately half are hovering around critical point.
This means that there is a need for fishery resources management
that focuses on the ecosystem as a whole. However, elucidating
the marine ecosystem is a task that is fraught with difficulties. It is
important that scientific knowledge is built up and the state of marine
resources should be monitored at an early stage, before these
resources and the ecosystem become threatened.
80
60
40
20
0
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2008
(Year)
Compiled from United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics
In order to ensure a constant supply of HON-DASHI ®
The dried bonito that is the main ingredient of HON-DASHI ®,
The company has launched activities to monitor skipjack
one of Ajinomoto Co., Inc.’s major products, comes from
stocks, to make sure that skipjack stock is always available,
skipjack tuna caught mainly in the Western and Central Pacific
and so that its bounty can be forever enjoyed by people in
Ocean. But demand for skipjack is soaring across the world.
Japan and elsewhere throughout the world.
What is the state of skipjack tuna resources?
What about skipjack resource management?
Skipjack has had a profound relationship with the Japanese people in
some way or another, and dates back to antiquity. As well as contributing to
shaping Japanese food culture through sashimi and dried bonito and so on,
the fish has also played a role in traditional customs. The skipjack of early
summer and the returning skipjack of late autumn conveyed a message of
the changing seasons, but in fact the main distribution range of the fish lies
in tropical waters with most of spending their lives near the equator. The
skipjack found in Japanese waters are a small section of migrant immature
one-year-olds. They rarely spawn in the sort of temperatures found in
Japanese waters, but spawn throughout the year in tropical seas starting
from about one and a half year old and are famed as a highly productive fish.
Skipjack are now a vital food resource, not only in Japan but also
throughout the world as an ingredient in tinned tuna. This has led to a
continuous and marked increase in the skipjack catch, which in 2009
amounted to 1.8 million tons, the highest on record, in the Western and
Central Pacific Ocean—the region that accounts for about 70% of the
worldwide catch—an eightfold increase on the 1972 catch. In particular,
the dramatic increase witnessed since the latter half of the 1990s is due to
the purse seine fishing that accounts for 90% of the catch. Moreover, more
than 90% of the catch takes place within ten degrees north and south of the
equator, and most of the skipjack used in HON-DASHI ® derives from these
tropical waters. On the other hand, in the Japanese waters that lie in the
peripheral areas of the fish’s distribution range, recent years have seen very
poor catches along the western coast of Japan. In 2004 there was a decline
in trolling and small-scale pole-and-line fishing, and catches slumped to a
low level by 2008.
Various international fishery management organizations composed of the
nations concerned, conduct the resource management of skipjack tuna which
migrate across the wide seas. In the case of the Western and Central Pacific
Ocean, the body in charge is the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries
Commission (WCPFC).
At the 6th Regular Session of the WCPFC’s Scientific Committee (SC6)
that was held on the South Pacific island country of Tonga in August 2010,
an assessment of the tuna species in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean
was conducted. Ajinomoto Co., Inc., as a company that has started initiatives
to monitor skipjack, was keen to clearly understand the circumstances
surrounding skipjack stocks and their management, and therefore
participated in SC6 and directly listened to the discussions of researchers
from various countries.
Skipjack catch in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean
from 1990 to 2009
State of skipjack and tuna species resources in world’s major
fishing grounds
Aggregate skipjack
catch from 1990 to
2009 (tons)
1,000,000
500,000
100,000
Pole-and-line
Purse-seine
Other
Worth
knowing
The assessment stated that skipjack stocks in the Western and Central
Pacific Ocean were still plentiful and that they were moderately exploited
and subject to neither overfishing nor overfished. However, the indicators
showing the state of the resources suggested that there were some signs
indicating decrease of the population in recent years. The assessment stated
that since there had been a rapid rise in catches and the indicators of the
state of the resources were changing, monitoring would be necessary for any
further attempts to increase the catch.
Furthermore, it has been hypothesized that the increase in exploitation
in the equatorial region may be causing the distribution range of resources to
shrink. This could possibly be the cause of the declining number of skipjack
that reach the waters on the periphery of their distribution, in other words in
latitudes further from the equator, such as the seas of Japan, Australia, and
New Zealand.
State of catch
3.5
2.0
Critical region
Bluefin tuna
(also known
as “bluefin”)
(2006)
Cautionary region Catch small, but resources low too
Bigeye tuna
(Average for 2005 to 2008)
0.5
0.0
0.5
Overfished and low on stocks
Cautionary region Overfished but resources fairly abundant
Safe region
1.5
1.0
F/Fmsy1
Compiled from WCPFC
data
The resources assessment at SC6
Use of
Yellowfin tuna
(Average for 2002 to 2005) skipjack is
moderate
2009
2007
2008
2006
Skipjack
1.0
1.5
2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
Catch small and resources abundant
1. An indicator used in marine resources
management. A fishing mortality at maximum
sustainable yield (F/Fmsy) of over 1 indicates
overfishing, and a biomass at maximum
sustainable yield (B/Bmsy) of less than 1
means that the resource is scarce.
B/Bmsy1 State of resources
Source: International organizations managing the world’s
main fishing fields. The data for skipjack, bigeye
and yellowfin tuna is from the WCPFC; the data
for bluefin tuna is from International Commission
for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
Skipjack are thought to live for six to seven years. The skipjack in Japanese waters are generally between 40 to 50 centimeters in length, but in tropical waters they grow
up to around one meter.
Ajinomoto Group Environmental Report 2010
16
Special Feature 2
At Sea
Cooperation in tagging to deepen understanding of sea life
(Above) The pointed tags are inserted into a straw-shaped metal tube
and attached to the fish.
(Right) Archival tags enable the position of migrating skipjacks to be
estimated, and record the sea temperature and depth.
Understanding and monitoring skipjack stocks. As an initiative
to collaborate and contribute in these efforts, in fiscal 2009
Ajinomoto Co., Inc. started the Joint Tagging Survey into Pacific
Coast Skipjack in conjunction with the National Research
Institute of Far Seas Fisheries (NRIFSF) of the Fisheries
Research Agency (FRA). The NRIFSF has hitherto conducted
tagging surveys on many species of fish for the purpose of
investigating into the ecosystem and stocks of marine resources,
but this fully-fledged research into the waters of Western Japan
is the first of its kind.
In this sur vey, the skipjack caught with pole -andline methods are tagged and released. When the fish are
recaptured, on which reporting is made via the fisheries
cooperatives, it is possible to estimate from the time and place
what route the fish travelled, how much they grew en route, and
the size of the stocks.
Takayuki Matsumoto, Skipjack and
Albacore Section, Tuna and Skipjack
Resources Division, NRIFSF,
participated in the survey
Tagging procedures
1
Choosing the
skipjack
Measuring the
skipjack
Fishermen on a small poleand-line fishing boat catch
the fish. The researchers
wait on the deck, choosing
a healthy-looking specimen
from among the fish that
spill down from the bow.
The place and time where
they were caught, and their
length, are all recorded.
Worth
knowing
17
2
The ground bait for skipjack used in the waters around Amami Oshima contains silver-stripe round herrings and Japanese anchovies, but the poor catches of recent
years are forcing the fisherman to make a boat journey up to Kagoshima to buy them.
Ajinomoto Group Environmental Report 2010
T he Ajinomoto Group Initiatives “Work for Life”
In order to accompany the usual
fishing trips, the researchers leave
port in the early hours of the morning,
spending three or four hours travelling
to the fishing fields.
During the first research activities in May 2009, 1,000
skipjacks were released in the vicinity of Amami Oshima, 34 of
which were reported as recovered in Western Japan coasts by
the end of the year. The project was expanded in fiscal 2010,
with a further 3,000 fishes being released off Amami Oshima
and the coast of Kochi.
We believe that acquiring the
basic data requisite to properly
understanding skipjack, and
providing fisheries stakeholders
with information on fluctuations in
resources through this research,
are vital for sustainable fishing.
Moreover, pursuing research into
skipjack in the temperate region
could probably be regarded as
a Japanese contribution to the
assessment of skipjack stocks
in the entire Western and Central
As it is vital that the members
of the fishing community tell
Pacific Ocean. The research will
us about the recapture of fish,
not lead to immediate results, but
notices, posters and goods
have been made to inform
it is an effort that the company
them through the fisheries
cooperatives.
intends to patiently pursue.
3
The Koniya district of Setouchi-cho, on Amami
Oshima, an island surrounded by a beautiful coral
seas and lush plants such as the flower of the Tiger’s
Claw tree. There are turtles in Koniya harbor too.
voice
Supporting sustainable skipjack stocks is one
of the environmental targets set as a business
project by the Seasonings Department. Some
of the company’s environmental personnel and
myself took part in the joint tagging survey, and
all of us lent a hand in the survey work carried
out on the boat. Seeing for myself how the size
of catches varies with the weather and sea
conditions over the few days of the survey, I
gained a first-hand understanding of just how
hard it is to estimate and secure the resources
of the sea, and how limited these resources are.
In order to keep on supplying HON-DASHI ®, it
is essential to have a stable supply of skipjack.
Though this research is still in its infancy, I hope
that it will serve as the foundation for finding out
even more about skipjacks and protecting them.
Then Section
Manager of the
Seasonings
Department,
Ajinomoto Co., Inc.
voice
The seas are currently undergoing a major and
rapid change. The worldwide consumption of fish
is rising, but natural fish are a form of wildlife.
While the amount caught by humans increases,
the number of the fishes themselves will not
suddenly rise. In order that we can still eat fish
in the future, we need to prevent overfishing with
a monitored fisheries management mechanism
based on scientific evidence. It is also vital that
consumers know about the seas and fishes. We
have great hopes for this initiative of the Ajinomoto
Group, which seeks to protect skipjack with the
collaboration of various stakeholders including
fishermen, fisheries people, researchers, NPOs
and consumers.
Aiko Yamauchi
Fisheries Officer,
Marine Program,
Nature Protection
Office, World Wildlife
Fund (WWF) Japan
4
Attaching
the tags
Releasing of the
fishes
Ta g s a r e a t t a c h e d b y
slipping them on to the
bones of the dorsal fin.
Some of the fishes have
archival tags attached to
their stomachs.
The skipjack are tagged
in t he s pac e of aroun d
10 seconds, in order not to
damage their bodies, and
are immediately released
back to the sea. If they are
recaptured, the data on the
time and place are collated
and analyzed.
Worth
knowing
Yoichiro Ito
The back of a freshly caught skipjack is a dazzling bluish purple. The fish are so lively that they sometimes have to be pinned down in order to attach the tags.
Ajinomoto Group Environmental Report 2010
18
At Sea
Special Feature 2
Making the most efficient use of the riches of the seas, and creating
a cycle of resources that is beneficial both at sea and on the land
When skipjack are considered as a resource it is important
to know about their stocks, but is also vital that we use them
without any waste. Ajinomoto Co., Inc. established Bonito
Technical Laboratory Co., Inc. jointly with a dried bonito maker
in 1997. The joint company is engaged in R&D to use all parts
of the skipjack without any waste.
Skipjack are a food resource widely loved by the Japanese
since the old days, and dried bonito has a deep enough link
with Japanese food culture to merit a mention in the kojiki :
Records of Ancient Matters compiled in the 8th century. It is
also used overseas in tinned tuna, and worldwide demand for
the fish is rising in line with the increase in fish consumption.
Under circumstances such as these, the company believes
that it is vital that we make the most efficient use of skipjack
without waste.
inherent in skipjack to decompose the residual parts of the fish
and turn them into fertilizers and feeds. Currently, experiments
are underway to test the efficacy of a liquid fertilizer on green
tea fields, and the fertilizer is showing signs of being particularly
effective in stimulating the growth of new tea bush shoots. The
company expects to popularize the skipjack liquid fertilizer now on
sale as a product that helps create a permanent cycle of skipjack
resources, by playing a part in using the goodness of these fishes
to nurture fertile fields
back on the land.
Pursuing high-addedvalue usage methods,
and using every ounce of
resources—the company
h o p e s t o ex p re s s i t s
gratitude for the riches
o f n a t u re t h ro u g h i t s Experimental use of liquid fertilizer on green tea
bushes. The tea saplings to which the fertilizer
was applied appear to be growing well.
business operations.
The Bonito Technical Laboratory Co., Inc.’s research
to turn fish into various food products, and fertilizers
that will nurture the fruits of the land
Annual production of HON-DASHI®, which carefully uses skipjack broth and extracts,
amounts to approximately 20,000 tons. If soup stock was obtained in the same manner
just from dried bonito, 90,000 tons of dried bonito per year would be needed.
Ajinomoto Co., Inc. purchases dried bonito for use in HONDASHI ® from a specialist dried bonito manufacturer. The head,
bones and innards are removed during the production process,
and around 70% of the fish becomes dried bonito. However, the
remaining 30% of the fish that does not become dried bonito
is also packed with nutrition, to such an extent that it would be
wasteful just to dispose of it. This is why the company uses
the bones as a raw material for calcium food products and
the concentrated and refined broth as an extract ingredient in
HON-DASHI ®. The heads and innards are also processed for
use in seasonings such as fish sauce and skipjack soy sauce.
Moreover, recent research is looking at ways of using enzymes
Web
The Bonito Technical Laboratory Co., Inc.’s website, including
details of the “Concept of the Skipjack World” (Japanese only)
http://katsuogiken.com/
Bonito Technical Laboratory Co., Inc.’s Concept of the
Skipjack World
Frozen skipjack
from waters near
the equator arrives
at the port of Yaizu.
They are stored in
refrigerators until
the day before
processing.
In the raw
materials for
HON-DASHI ®
Raw material
skipjack
Into various
food
products
For fertilizers
and feeds
Sashimi
Boiled in soy
sauce
Skipjack soy
sauce
Skipjack fish
sauce
Skipjack
calcium
Refining
Refining
Simmering
Skipjack
collagen
Semi-dried
bonito
An initiative that aims to use 100% of the skipjack by the effective utilization
of all the by-products arising from the production of dried bonito
Used as raw material
Smoke
drying
Smoke-dried
bonito
Molding
Dried bonito
with mold
Liquid
seasoning
Tinned
skipjack
Shaving
Flakes
Soup
stock
Extraction
Skipjack soup
stock
Packed flakes
Noodle sauce
Soil additive
Feeds
Worth
knowing
19
Cutting
Skipjack
extract
90,000 tons
20,000 tons
Based on a calculation in
which 175 grams of miso
soup uses 3.5 grams
of dried bonito and the
same amount of miso
soup uses 0.783 grams
of HON-DASHI ®.
Liquid fertilizer
Feeds
Fertilizer
The Japanese people have had a long acquaintance with skipjack, and the bones of the fish have been found all over Japan in Jomon Era burial sites dating back to
around 7,000 to 8,000 years ago. They appear to have been caught using tackle made from deer horns and bones.
Ajinomoto Group Environmental Report 2010
T he Ajinomoto Group Initiatives “Work for Life”
To t h e F u t u r e
An amino acid derived from the land ensures the recovery of algae in the sea?!
Joint development of Environmentally Active Concrete
that helps to grow algae
Arginine powder
(Middle) Experiment to submerge a plate
In recent years the pollution of rivers and seas, the
oligotrophication (or nutrient depletion) of seawater
and the desertification of coasts due to global
warming, a phenomenon in which algae become
depleted, have grown into serious problems. Since
algae are one of the keystones of the food chain,
encouraging their growth will lead to the vitalization
of the seas and rivers.
This is why a group centering on Ajinomoto Co., Inc.,
Nikken Kogaku Co., Ltd., and the University of
Tokushima’s Institute of Socio Techno Sciences
(headed by Professor Yasunori Kouzuki) has jointly
developed Environmentally Active Concrete1, in
which the amino acid arginine is mixed. Arginine is
an amino acid found in large quantities in marine
products, and it has a growth-promoting effect on
plants and certain types of algae. When arginine
impregnated concrete was submerged in the sea,
there was a notable difference in the growth of
microalgae varieties around it compared to ordinary
concrete, and fish and shell life were also attracted
to it.
The results of experiments conducted thus far
in seven maritime locations and on one river show
that, in comparison with ordinary concrete, there
is a marked difference in the growth of the algae
and abalone that adhere to it. Further attempts in
the future will be made to test on a long term basis
and verify the concrete’s effects on larger algae
like wakame seaweed and kelp, as well as coral.
By turning the inorganic concrete used in seas and
rivers into an organic material it is hoped that it will
be possible to improve the compatibility of natural
and manmade objects, and help in supporting the
food chain and ecosystem.
The arginine created from riches of the fields
such as cassava helps to nurture life in the seas.
Ajinomoto Co., Inc.’s amino acid business, which
set out to provide people with tasty food, has
blossomed out into medicines and feeds and so on,
and is continuing to make fresh challenges in the
field of fostering marine resources.
1.Patent jointly applied for by Nikken Kogaku Co., Ltd. and
Ajinomoto Co., Inc. Product planned for launch by Nikken
Kogaku Co., Ltd. during fiscal 2010.
Chizuru Tara (left) and
Kazuhiro Sato (right)
Bio-Industrialization Center, Bioscience
Products & Fine Chemicals Division,
Ajinomoto Co., Inc.
The riches of the fields help to make the
marine ecosystem harmonious. We work
on our research in the hope that we can
make a new amino acid bio-cycle like this.
Environmentally
active concrete
Aamino
acid
Much is expected of the
concrete’s efficacy in attracting
primary creatures such as
fish and shellfish. Below left:
Abalone; Below right: Sweetfish
Changes in amount of microalgae attached to
concrete surface in testing at sea
Amount of algae attached Chlorophyll-a2
(μg/cm2)
20
Ordinary concrete
Environmentally active concrete
15
10
5
0
7
2009
1
2010
Installation: June 2009
2.Chlorophyll-a is a green pigment essential to the
photosynthesis process, and is used as an indicator of the
amount of algae attached.
Worth
knowing
8
9
10
11
12
Survey month
Compared to the ordinary concrete (back left) the
environmentally active concrete in the foreground
displays significant algae growth.
Checking results in the lab tank
Wave-dissipation block cast
The environmental consideration taken in the production of HON-DASHI ® is not limited to materials. The product is available in refill pouches to cut down on waste,
and ongoing environmental care is taken with all containers and packaging.
Ajinomoto Group Environmental Report 2010
20