Number 192
December 13, 1996


A weekly update of news from the Japanese
Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry and Fisheries

Public Relations Office,Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry and Fisheries
Kasumigaseki 1-2-1,Chiyoda-ku,Tokyo 100
Tel:81-3-3591-2874 Fax:81-3-3501-3720
Editor.Kazuyuki Tsurumi

World Food Summit Held
From November 13 to November 17, the World Food Summit was held at the Rome headquarters of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO-hosted summit provided an opportunity for high-level discussions aimed at raising global awareness of food, agriculture and food security-related problems. More specifically, the summit addressed the common challenges of eradicating hunger and malnutrition, and ensuring food security for all citizens of the world.

The summit was attended by representatives from approximately 190 countries. Representing Japan was the Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Mr. Takao Fujimoto. Other relevant UN agencies and various nongovernmental organizations also participated as observers.

The first day of the summit saw the adoption of the Rome Declaration on World Food Security, which seeks to achieve food security for all and reduce the number of undernourished people in the world to one-half the current level by no later than 2015, and the World Food Summit Plan of Action, which outlines measures for the declaration's implementation. In subsequent days, representatives and observers delivered speeches outlining policies and efforts to tackle issues at the heart of the summit's theme.

Mr. Fujimoto addressed the following points in his presentation:

  1. Food and agriculture should be considered not only in economic terms, but from a variety of viewpoints.
  2. Securing a stable food supply depends on ensuring an appropriate combination of sufficient domestic production, food imports and stockpiling.
  3. Promoting domestic production facilitates the full deployment of the multiple functions of agriculture - such as environmental protection - as well as producing food.
  4. Food-exporting countries should be responsible for maintaining a stable supply of food products to importing countries, even when harvests are poor.
  5. Based on the outcome of the summit, Japan will strengthen its international cooperation in the food and agriculture sectors.

During the summit, Mr. Fujimoto met and exchanged views with many of his counterparts from around the world, including the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Dan Glickman; Mr. Frantz Fischler, member of the European Commission in charge of agriculture and rural development; Mr. Liu Jiang, minister for agriculture of the People's Republic of China; Mr. Philippe Vasseur, minister for agriculture, fisheries and food of France; and Mr. Shafqat Mahmood, the Republic of Pakistan's minister for food, agriculture and livestock industries.

For further information, please contact the International Cooperation Planning Division of the Economic Affairs Bureau at (03) 3501-4095.

Research into Southern Ocean Whales and Marine Ecosystem Launched
On November 7, seven research vessels left Japan to conduct regular scientific studies of whales and the marine ecosystem of the southern oceans. Long-term scientific monitoring in this area is particularly important to understanding the ecological impact of excessive whaling in the past. Between the 1930s and the 1960s, more than 200,000 blue whales - the largest of the baleen whales - were harvested by the ten nations of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). In the 1960s, blue whales were placed under IWC protection as an endangered species. Today, after 30 years under protection, the blue whale population has failed to recover. Scientists believe that this is due to the presence of ecological competitors, particularly minke whales, which have a shorter reproduction cycle than blue whales and have come to occupy the ecological vacuum created by the massive decline in the number of blue whales. The minke whale population in the Antarctic has increased sharply in recent years and is currently estimated at more than 760,000.

Two vessels, the Shonan-maru and the Shonan-maru 2, are in charge of the Southern Ocean Whales and Ecosystem Research (SOWER) program, an international effort proposed by the IWC. Scientists from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States will participate in the program, conducting non-lethal studies on blue whales off Madagascar and minke whales in the Antarctic. SOWER succeeds the IWC/IDCR (International Decade of Cetacean Research) programs, which ran from 1978 to 1996.

Five vessels from Japan, including the Nisshin-maru, are currently conducting research under the auspices of the Japanese Research Program in the Antarctic (JARPA), a national program launched in 1987 that focuses on biological and ecological studies of Antarctic minke whales. JARPA involves conducting sampling on 400 (+/-10%) minke whales during the period of each study, in line with a scientific permit authorized by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. This program and its results are continuously reviewed by the Scientific Committee of the IWC. Many scientists worldwide acknowledge the necessity of sacrificing some whales to conduct biological and ecological system research. JARPA's research has been acknowledged by the IWC's Scientific Committee as the single major source of biological information on whales in the Antarctic, and the Scientific Committee's report this year praised the "high quality of much of the work that has been presented over the years of this proposal." The five vessels participating in the program will return to Japan in April 1997.

For further information, please contact the Far Seas Fisheries Division of the Fisheries Agency at (03) 3591-2443.

STATISTICS

The following statistics are available from the Planning and Coordination Division of the Statistics and Information Department: Tel. (03) 3592-0758.

  1. Statistics on the Marketing of Frozen Fisheries Products, October 1996.
  2. Forecast for Production and Shipment of Vegetables (Winter-spring cucumbers gathered in winter and five other items), as of November 20, 1996.
  3. Value of Fisheries Production, 1995.
  4. Statistical Research on the Farm Economy, August 1996. (Preliminary; includes index of consumption levels in rural areas.)
  5. Preliminary Statistical Report on the Marketing of Vegetables and Fruit, last 10 days of November 1996.
  6. Statistical Research on the Farm Economy by Type of Farming, 1995.
  7. Statistics on the Marketing of Flowers, October 1996.
Notes:

  1. All materials are in Japanese unless otherwise noted.
  2. The contacts may not be able to respond to inquiries in any language except Japanese.
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