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Spotlighting Japan's history with fish, we can understand that aquatic organisms play a pivotal role in the culture of island-nations. In Japan, fish is second only to rice as a staple in the Japanese diet. Japan's fishing fleet provides most of the fish consumed domestically and it is on of the largest in the world with a total fish catch of 5.9 million metric tons in 1999 (Cybriwsky et al. 2004). Coastal fishing of various species in Japan dates back to pre-modern times, but distant-water fishing beyond its present exclusive economic zones (EEZ) only started around the 1920s and increased dramatically during the food shortage of the immediate post--World War II period (Macmillan 2006). However, Japan's coastal fishing has been suffering since the 1970s from both depletion of resources and the lack of successors. In recent years, the removal of trade barriers on fishery products and the reduction of government subsidies to the fishing industry have also forced coastal fishermen to change careers (Macmillan 2006). Unavoidably, the era of fishing as a primary and commodity industry is passing in Japanand Japan and in many nations due to increasing demand and decreasing catch.
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Muller, George C. (2007). Timeline of Commercial Whaling. Retrieved November 19, 2007, from http://www.cgeorgemuller.com/timeline.htm.
Politics
As the "Cod Wars" between Great Britain and Iceland during the 1950's to 1970's showed, fishing was a significant enough industry for them to challenge each other with naval forces. Iceland provoked the start of all three of these conflicts by extending their EEZ farther from their shores every time. Iceland felt that these measures were necessary because their economy depends so heavily on the fishing industry, due to a lack of agriculture and other natural resources. "Fish and fish products of one form or another...have on average accounted for 89.71 per cent of Iceland's total export in each year during the period 1881-1976" (TED). This dependence caused Iceland to take strong proactive steps to protect their fishery when it was determined that stocks were being over exploited, especially by foreign vessels from Great Britain, West Germany and Belgium. "The tonnage of fish catches had been decreasing since a peak in the 1950's, even though technological improvements allowed greater catches for fishing vessels" (TED) meaning that the overall population must have been decreasing. The start of the Third War was a result of pushing the EEZ to its current 200 mile range, as outlined in the then newly established Law of the Sea. While no actual battles were fought, sides were chosen by neighboring nations, and ships were damaged in collisions and net cutting missions.
International politics were affected by this event, with NATO being forced to mediate the conflict and the use of the UN created Law of the Sea as justification of Iceland's actions before it had been fully established as international law.
Works Cited
Kassebaum, David. (1997). Cod War: Iceland Fishing and Territorial Water Dispute with the UK. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from http://www.american.edu/TED/icefish.htmthis section is in progress in my Open Office doc. I will post as soon as it's done