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just thought this was neat to read... maybe the asian carp will become a big time game fish here too. or we will start goby fishing tournaments.
Is Largemouth bass an "alien" ?
Japan is the world's second-largest market for bass fishing.
As you may know, there're many fishing equipment manufacturers support this market.
According to the Japan Sportsfishing Association association (JSA), about 3 million Japanese fish for Black bass, and market worth about 100 billion Japanese yen (=about US$1 billion).
In Japan, black bass has been called a "nonnative species" or "alien species" ("Gairaigyo" in Japanese).
Photo by Eric Engbretson of Engbretson Underwater Photography:
http//www.underwaterfishphotos.com
Scientists and biologists consists that when nonnative species live in a habitat with native species, they may endanger native species in many different ways. And we need to reduce numbers of nonindigenous species because they endanger or cause problems for native species.
Especially, Black bass and Bluegill are suppressing indigenous species like the Nigorobuna (Crucian carp) and Honmoroko (Carp), Tanago (Japanese bitterling), sources of Japanese popular cuisine. Nigorobuna is well-known as Funazushi (=a kind of "Sushi").
A measure taken under the pressure of necessity, some local governments began using gill nets from the late 1980 to try to eradicate growing numbers of both Largemouth bass and Bluegill.
The Japanese government finally endorsed an ordinance to prohibit the importing and breeding of 37 nonnative species (including Black bass) seen as endangering the ecosystem and the law took effect from June 1, 2005.
The law bans the importing, trading, breeding and disposing of designated alien species unless approved by the government for research or other special purposes.
The industry groups, fishing federations, and anglers had insisted that banning the fish would hurt the industry, however, Black bass is finally officially branded as "invasive alien species" against their will. (The total number of public comment which against the law was over hundred thousand.)
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