Japanese abalone command very good prices on international markets. However, because of deterioration and other changes in habitat as a result of coastal economic activity, seawater warming or the like, they remain in gradual retreat. Attempts to maintain/restore abalone stocks through seedling releases and the like, while ongoing, have not been sufficiently effective. In this research, we seek to establish a suitable and effective method of managing abalone resources by applying traceability techniques to resource surveys, to studies of poaching/harvesting regulations, and to other such initiatives. As specific measures toward this goal, we are to:
(1)tag abalone seedlings; conduct catch surveys;
(2)establish a method of characteristic analysis for resource structures
(3)construct a mathematical/statistical model for practical application to resource estimation
(4)provide concrete proposals/operating standards to optimize seedling releases and regulate harvests;
(5)quantify (estimate) losses to poaching and, by extension, appropriately control/manage economically valuable abalone resources (by, as above, optimizing seedling releases, proposing concrete measures for harvesting, etc.).
Surveys sites are: the Hegurajima fishing grounds off Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture (said grounds being notable for a marked decline in fisheries resources in recent years); the Kuzaki fishing grounds off Toba, Mie Prefecture (said grounds being notable for a zoning system introduced many years ago); and waters off Utatsu, Minami Sanriku-cho, Miyagi Prefecture and off Kominato, Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture (said waters notable as sites at which we earlier conducted traceability studies and continue to produce catches that include tagged abalone).