Why was the OPRT created?
Japan is the only country in the world where eating sashimi tuna is an inherent part of the food culture. Of course, other countries utilize canned tuna; however, the selling price for sashimi tuna is 10 to 30 times higher than that of canned tuna.
For this reason, the fishing for sashimi tuna has expanded rapidly and extensively. Fishing vessels not only from Japan but from the rest of the world are capitalizing on this trend. All tunas caught worldwide for sashimi are sold to Japanese market.
In 1999, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned of the need to decrease the number of tuna vessels, since most of the tuna stocks throughout the world had been fully or overly exploited.
Japan holds a great responsibility for the situation with the world’s leading market for sashimi tuna, and, with this fact in mind, the OPRT has been created. It has started activities sure to help promote the proper conservation and management of tuna stocks for people all over the world.
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OPRT Contact
Organization for the Promotion of Responsible Tuna Fisheries
CIEL BLUE Kojimachi (4F)
3-4-3 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 102-0083 Japan
Tel: 81-3-6256-9138
Fax: 81-3-6256-9139
