Statement by Mr. Kenro IINO, Ambassador in charge of Pacific Fisheries Organization Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan

the 2nd APEC Ocean-related Ministerial Meeting
September 16, 2005
Bali, Indonesia

Mr. Co-chairs, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me first of all to take this opportunity to thank our hosts, the Government and people of Indonesia for their gracious hospitality. I would like to express my appreciation for the efforts and hard work which many people have undertaken for the preparation of this event.

The main themes of this Meeting are of great interest to Japan, since Japan is a maritime state surrounded by ocean. The ocean has been a source of an abundant food to the Japanese people since ancient times. Thus, fisheries products have historically occupied an important place in Japanese food provision and have become an essential part of its culture. In 2002, Japan's fisheries production reached almost 6 million tons and Japan also imports almost 4 million tons of those products from foreign countries. While the ocean brings wealthy resources to the Japanese people, it often brings natural disasters, too. From the experiences of natural disasters caused frequently by ocean, today, Japanese Government announces the risk of tsunamis or high-tides every time when an earthquake occurs or a typhoon approaches to the archipelagos.

I would like to touch here upon some of Japan's actions taken for ensuring sustainable use of marine resources and enabling sustainable development of coastal communities, which are the main themes of this Ministerial Meeting.

As a responsible fishing state as well as a major importing state of fisheries products, Japan attaches great importance to the sustainable use of marine living resources. Japan joins almost all of the Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) in the world and has been playing an active role in them with a view to ensuring the sustainable use of marine living resources.

In Japan's view, Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is the most urgent problem to be addressed among other issues relating to the sustainable use of marine living resources, since it has a close relationship with excessive fishing capacity and is threatening the sustainability of fisheries resources in the world. Recognizing the effectiveness of trade-related measures for the combat against IUU fishing, Japan has taken initiatives to introduce the Positive Listing Scheme in all the RFMOs for Tunas, such as those in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

In order to intensify our effort to our combat against IUU fishing, international cooperation and coordination will be essential. With a view to strengthening such cooperation and coordination among RFMOs, Japan is proposing to hold a "Joint Meeting of Tunas Regional Fisheries Management Organizations" at the beginning of 2007 in Japan.

Individual action by each APEC economy is not enough to achieve the sustainable use of marine living resources, since the Pacific Ocean is surrounded by the APEC economies, and its resources are shared by them. Thus, Japan strongly supports the international cooperation among member economies within relevant international organizations, namely FAO and RFMOs, and encourage cooperation and coordination among those organizations.

Regarding the climate change, which is supposed to be addressed in the discussion, it is one of the issues Japanese Government attaches high priority. APEC members' cooperation is also needed in this area, because efforts by single economy are not enough to solve this problem. The Kyoto Protocol which entered into force this February is an important step for such international cooperation.

In this April Japanese Government formulated the "Kyoto Protocol Target Achievement Plan", a national plan aiming to achieve the goal set by the Protocol. Japan is now working towards the implementation of this Plan, both in public and private sector. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage the member economies to work for the international cooperation under the Protocol.

Please allow me lastly to touch upon the tragedy caused by the major earthquake off the coast of Sumatra and the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean occurred at the end of last year. Firstly, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the bereaved of the victims and my sincerest sympathy to the millions of people affected.

The international community showed the strong solidarity in response to the disaster. Japan immediately reacted to it, such as deployment of 3 vessels and helicopters with 591 crews of Maritime Self-Defence Force for conducting search and rescue activities, and the dispatch of Japan Disaster Relief Teams.

From ancient times, Japan has suffered from unexpected earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, and other natural disasters. Japan's bitter experiences of these natural disasters made the disaster reduction one of its major concerns. In this context, in the area of disaster reduction, Japan provided already in FY 2003 financial assistance of about 33 billion yen, approximately 300 million US dollars. After the major earthquake off the coast of Sumatra and the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Japan has been providing the maximum possible assistance in terms of financial resources, knowledge and expertise, and human resources, including grant aid up to 500 million US dollars as immediate assistance.

Japan has been making various contributions to the establishment of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System in close coordination with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. For example, The International Coordination Meetings were held twice with Japan's financial support. Japan is also sharing its experiences, lessons and knowledge of tsunami with the affected countries and other Indian Ocean countries through capacity building training programs in Japan. Furthermore, Japan Meteorological Agency and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center provide the Indian Ocean countries with interim tsunami advisory information on their request. In addition we are now preparing to dispatch an expert to the affected states as well as to the Unit for Global Operational Ocean Observation and Hazard Warning, to be established in the IOC secretariat.

Japan prays for the recovery and rehabilitation from the disaster to be as early as possible and the international support in this effect would facilitate such recovery and rehabilitation.

For all the APEC member economies which form the Pacific Rim, oceans must have significant roles in economic, social, cultural, historical and other aspects, as it does to Japan. Ocean related issues would be the common interests among us and we should continue and strengthen, as appropriate, the cooperation which had already been undertaken both bilaterally and internationally in relevant international fora. In this context, APEC provides a valuable opportunity for our economies to exchange views and share the best practices in ocean related matters. I look forward to constructive discussions in this 2nd Ocean Related Ministerial Meeting.

In closing, I would like to reiterate my sincere appreciation to the Government of Indonesia for setting this valuable opportunity.

Thank you.