If I could make an economically useful seaweed version of the ‘Big Four’ (Nori, Kombu, Eucheuma, Lessonia) Nori would be Metallica: undeniably important, with a rich history, but clichéd by its fame and bloated market presence. Japan’s famous Porphyra sheets—Nori—create a market worth well over $2 billion, a staggering number that, among other things, represents the commitment of great swaths of coastline to the production of the humble red algae.
Members of a three family, two generation, farming unit checking the quality of their sheets prior to shipping to the co-op. Despite the high level of mechanization and complexity of the production process, rarely (anecdotally), do farming organizations get bigger than several families. In general, corporate business models are absent from the production side of Nori farming.
Virtually all Nori farms and processing are the responsibility of individuals or small groups. This is staggering given the sophistication of production and volume of product brought to market. However, the scale of nori production organizations are not a fluke irony in a country marked by the pre-war, preeminence of the Zaibatsu and now more popularly famous for Mitsubishi, Canon, and other corporate conglomerates. The scale of ownership in Nori culture is a result of historic, legislated, and institutional commitments by the Japanese. In short, Nori’s small scale producers are a function of the prevalence of producer cooperatives throughout Japan’s aquaculture, fisheries, and agricultural sectors.
Nori, about to be…desiccated! Actually, in this photo, a fisherman is merely bringing the net up for the photographer’s convenience. Image courtesy of the great seaweed.ie
As a wild plant, the many species (over 150 of them) of Porphyra occupy the upper intertidal zone, exposed to air and taking a shriveled, desiccated form for much of the tide cycle. Traditional and modern culture methods mimic, at least partially, Porphyra’s feral position in the intertidal by fixing nets permanently on poles or temporarily on raised rods attached to buoys so cultured plants are exposed to air for a portion of the tide cycle. While exposure reduces growth rates, it prevents epiphyte and disease activity from damaging the valuable blades.
The two methods of exposing nori plants to periodic sun drying. (1) Fixed poles w/ nets suspended at a set height for periodic exposure via tidal changes and (2) buoys with rods that suspend nets for a period of time designated by the farmer.
Today, Nori is grown using two methods. (1) Nets seeded with Porphyra (a land based process which will be covered later) are attached to poles planted in shallow water. (2) Seeded nets are fastened to buoys anchored to the seafloor. For the first month of the grow-out phase, young plants are manually raised onto poles fastened vertically to buoys. Following the completion of the first period the plants are then permanently submerged until harvest. While relatively sheltered water and specific environmental parameters are necessary for Nori production, the second method greatly expanded possible culture areas for Nori production, allowing Porphyra to be grown in deeper water and farther offshore.
The two major methods of nori culture, fixed pole (shallow place) and floating (deep place). These pictures (and the previous photos above) are from a presentation I attended given by Mr. Yushi Shimada of the Tokyo Bay Research Center. Floating culture is a relatively recent innovation in the 400 year history of nori farming and greatly expanded the number of areas suitable for culture.by allowing nori to be grown far from the intertidal zone
Producing (literally) billions of sheets of Nori through the culture methods described above requires committing a very large area of the marine environment and adjacent upland to aquaculture. Considering that Nori ‘farms’ are groupings of many individual farms and that each of these farms are managed and owned by individuals, the favorite phrase of Ronald Coase appears now in flashing neon: transaction costs, transactions costs! In a wealthy, fairly litigious country, with vacationing, ocean loving, people that enthusiastically embrace private property, how do Japanese prefectural governments allocate marine space on such a high resolution without drowning in lease applications, complaints, renewals, and environmental assessments?
Ojiichan and Obiichan lining up to purchase a portion of the day’s catch at a FCA in Mie prefecture. Fisherman and farmers in Japan are an aging demographic in Japan. Traditional ways of delivering fisheries products like the afternoon market pictured tend to bring out the older portion of their customer base. Historically, the Japanese consumed more seafood per capita, despite presently being the world’s second largest consumer of seafood.
The short answer is: they don’t. If you are a fisherman or aquaculturist in Japan whose activity is within three miles of the shore, you belong to one of Japan’s 1600 Fisherman’s Cooperative Association (FCAs) as your father and most likely, your grandfather, did before you. Formally, FCAs are producer/marketing cooperatives that provide services to fisherman and farmers—political and regulatory representation, banking, marketing, equipment sales, lease areas, and technical advice—in return for (1) annual contributions by members through fees and investments in co-op infrastructure and (2) the guarantee that member’s sell all products through the cooperative.
Guide, researcher and friend, Dr. Hasegawa, avoids ‘abunai’ as he walks over the cross beams, water quality samples in hand, of a raft growing pacific oyster via rope culture in Mie, Japan. Behind Dr. Hasegawa are several more oyster rafts and also a raft/net pen growing red sea bream
In the case of wild harvest species, FCAs are given exclusive right to biological resources in a designated area. For aquaculture operations, leases still must be applied for. However, unlike many western nations where individual operators apply for individual leases, Japanese FCAs apply on behalf of their members through a fairly straightforward system shown below. This collective application reduces transaction costs, and ensures a degree of stability for farmers. We can see glimmers of Japan’s sage approach to ocean use in western marine spatial planning concepts such as aquaculture ‘parks’ or zones—concepts that have already been applied in New Zealand and have been proposed and much talked about in the US and other western nations (see sources at bottom of post).
Diagram depicting the FCA based leasing process for Porphyra culture in Mie, Prefecture.
Iterations of the system shown in the diagram above vary from prefecture to prefecture. Certain prefectures have output regulations limiting the area allotted to an individual farmer and others prescriptive standards specifying gear type in an attempt to mitigate conflicts between farmers or abuses by individuals. The lottery process is a widely used and defining feature of the FCAs. In the context of Nori aquaculture, the advantages or disadvantages of sites within a lease area are many. For instance, sites, or ‘lots’ closer to shore are easily accessed and require less maintenance, especially during the juvenile stage of Nori production. However, lots farther from shore benefit from greater exposure to currents and nutrients, yielding higher growth rates, better quality blades, and ultimately, Nori sheets. From the farmers I was lucky enough to speak to, the lottery means that over the span of a couple years, everyone gets a fair shot – an attitude that speaks to the collective awareness and long term view the process emphasizes. Importantly, controls for Nori farming within FCAs (including the lottery) are created, voted on, and enforced by its members. While outside institutions and individuals can make recommendations, all regulation comes from the user group. This democratic interface is one reason why Japan’s FCAs are a leading example of community based management of marine resources.
A schematic depicting lots available for Nori farming in the FCA pre-leased space in Tokyo bay. The users of lots are determined by lottery. Image courtesy of Yushi Shimada of the Tokyo Bay Research Center
Despite internal differences from FCA to FCA, the basic formula remains the same from prefecture to prefecture. The FCA applies for an area on behalf of its member farmers, thereby lowering negotiation time and allowing for inter-annual adjustments in farm capacity. The organizational structure and representational function of the FCA drastically simplifies the marine planning process. The lottery system, however…unique, distributes resource rent (i.e. culture conditions at individual lots) equitably over the long term and on paper, the lotto helps resists institutional biases and backdoor agreements.
Sources*
International Co-operative Information Centre. Part II: Review of Country Laws- Japan. 1997. Web. (http://www.uwcc.wisc.edu/icic/def-hist/country/japan/Review-of-Co-op-Laws-in-Japan–1997-1.html)
Ministry for Primary Industries, Aquaculture Zoning in the Southland Region. 2013. Web. (http://www.fish.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/3E2C3847-AC80-4BB9-8972-F943C7C41B23/0/1302ProjectSummary.pdf)
Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program, Marine Aquaculture Zoning: A Sustainable Approach in the Growth of Aquaculture. 2003. Web (http://masglp.olemiss.edu/zoning.htm)
Murota, Takeshi, Fisheries Commons in Japan: Their Legal Framework and Recent Crisis. 2008. Web. https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/7322/147.pdf?sequence=1
OECD, Draft Country Note on Fisheries Management Systems — Japan. 2001. Web http://www.oecd.org/greengrowth/fisheries/34429748.pdf
N. Hasegawa. Personal Communication. December, 2014
Restakis, John. Humanizing the Economy: Co-Operatives in the Age of Capital, 2010. E-Book
Shimada, Yushi. Powerpoint Presentation and Personal Communication. November, 2014
*Note on Sources: I attempt to be thorough and attribute facts to their authors whenever writing one of these entries. However, I have deliberately shied away from formal academic citation due to the (generally) informal and interview intensive nature of the project. Apologies, if the lack of in text citing has annoyed. Additionally, in text citation would make the blog way less fun.
This blog documented a bit of my ‘Watson Fellowship,’ a year long grant for independent study. Two big rules characterized the fellowship: 1) You cannot return to America 2) You must travel alone.
Brian-Wrack 