Full-Cycle Eel Farming: Half-Century Dream Coming to Dinner Tables
Significant progress has been made toward realizing the half-century dream of full-cycle Japanese eel farming. Further technological developments are expected to help preserve Japan’s traditional food culture.
Japan's eel farming has reached a significant milestone, with fully farmed Japanese eels sold to the public for the first time in the world. Known for their unique taste and texture, these eels are expected to preserve the country's traditional food culture. The trial sales took place in May, with the grilled eels priced at about ¥5,000 per piece, roughly twice the price of standard farmed eels. However, despite the higher cost, the taste is reported to be just as good as the traditional kind.
The Japanese eel's lifecycle is a mystery to many. They spawn in waters near the Mariana Islands, which are approximately 2,000 kilometers south of Japan. After hatching, many of the newborn eels travel to Japanese rivers, living there for five to 15 years before returning to the ocean. A staggering 99% of domestic eels are currently farmed, with prices being more affordable this summer due to a plentiful catch of juvenile eels. However, the market is subject to price fluctuations based on the size of the catch.
The process of traditional aquaculture involves catching glass eels, which are 5-6 cm long, along the Japanese coastline and raising them for six to 18 months before shipping them out. Unfortunately, the catch of glass eels has declined to below 10% of what it was over 60 years ago, currently at around 18 tons. This decline has led researchers to seek alternative methods of farming, such as full-cycle aquaculture.
Full-cycle aquaculture refers to a system where eels are raised from birth through artificial insemination, allowing them to spawn and produce the next generation. This method is seen as crucial for balancing resource conservation with food culture. Such technology has been in development for several decades, with Hokkaido University successfully achieving artificial hatching of eels in 1973.
A government research and development agency took this further in 2010, successfully carrying out full-cycle aquaculture of Japanese eels, and has been working towards bringing the product to the general market ever since.
Despite these advancements, there are still significant challenges to overcome in order to achieve affordable prices for consumers. Newly hatched eel fry are extremely delicate and require specialized tanks and feed, both of which come at a considerable cost. The Japanese government has set a goal of shifting all domestic Japanese eel farming to full-cycle aquaculture by 2050, and researchers and private-sector companies are continuously refining feeding methods and aquaculture techniques to reduce costs.
In the realm of aquaculture and agriculture, there have been instances where technologies developed in Japan have been leaked overseas. In the case of eels, it will be important to protect these intellectual properties, potentially through the acquisition of international patents and strict management of research findings.
Written by urgent.news from The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
