Let’s dive deep into the story of a local fishery located to the north of mainland Aomori in the Tohoku region of Japan. Here, fishermen practice sustainable Kaikyo salmon fishing. Kaiyko salmon, also known as the Donaldson trout, begin their life cycle in the rivers and descend to the sea as they grow, acclimating from freshwater to seawater over the course of four days. They are then nurtured to maturity by the cold waters and currents of the Tsugaru Straits for the next 8 months, in some cases weighing in over 5 kgs before being harvested.
The road to sustainability has been rocky for the Ohata fishermen. Historically, fishers have encountered a series of hardships caused by the wild nature of offshore fishing. They’ve weathered catastrophic damage from typhoons and cyclones, mass mortality of the species due to abnormal seawater temperatures, and damage from sea lions. Through it all, they’ve persisted and worked diligently to overcome these difficulties, making the decision to move from a "catch fishery" to a "create and nurture" fishery. This is a story of how fishery in Ohata moved from near-complete catastrophe to resiliency.