Endangered eels endanger the cultural traditions of a city
That morning, I stood on a remote lakeside of Lake Hamana, overlooking a small dock where kelp harvesters docked. This is my father's hometown in Hamamatsu, Japan. I came to the lake to see the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva. This Bodhisattva statue carries the endless desire to bless the local eel species.
This Guanyin statue was founded in the late 1930s, on the eve of World War II. It was funded by local fisheries and aquaculture groups. Their names are now engraved on the granite base. The Bodhisattva carried a basket with a smile in his eyes. The statue was about 5 meters high, but he was not condescending, but kind. However, like many Hamamatsu residents, the Bodhisattva does not seem to realize that the Japanese freshwater eel is now on the verge of extinction.
Lake Hamana is adjacent to the western edge of Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, and is shaped like a curved glove; the lake covers an area of about 100 square kilometers, and the southern end is connected to the Pacific Ocean by a narrow waterway. The waterway was formed during an earthquake in 1498, which tore the land barrier that originally separated Lake Hamana from the Pacific Ocean. Lake Hamana, which used to be a geological disaster site, has now become the home of aquaculture, mainly eel farming.
The southern part of Hamana Lake is connected with the sea, and it is the tenth largest lake in Japan. Image source:.sqkk.com
In 1891, the first eel farm was established in the region. Now eel is one of the main export products in the Hamamatsu area, and is famous all over Japan for its reliable quality and sweet taste. But eel is not just an export: anyone who comes to Hamamatsu will realize that eel is the real star of the city and the source of Hamamatsu's pride and identity. Eels are to Hamakatsu, just as crabs to Baltimore, or lobster to the coast of Maine. Snacks made of eels, such as eel pie, eel-flavored soda, eel roast potatoes, fried eel bones, etc., can be seen everywhere, whether in public phone booths, convenience stores, farmers' markets, or souvenir shops in local castles. There seems to be a locally certified eel restaurant on every street, many of which have a history of more than a hundred years. Even Hamamatsu's mascot "Birthed Master Kangjun" also has a cartoon eel-shaped bun.
Jia Kangjun with an eel on his head. Image source:pbs.twimg.com
For me, who grew up in the United States, eel is a delicious link between me and Hamamatsu, who is the source of the other half bloodline. I will eat eel rice at home - soft, tender and juicy grilled eels are layered on the rice. In order to visit relatives, I have been back to Japan 10 times. Every time we eat eels to celebrate the rare reunion. A restaurant called "Omme" that I often visit is near my grandmother's birthplace. When I visited her for the last time, it was rare for everyone to sit in the low tatami room together, wolfing down eel rice and eel soup, while listening to her talk about the ups and downs of the place where they had lived for 88 years.
It is still difficult to describe the relationship between people and food purely rationally.
Therefore, when the overfished Japanese eel (Latin scientific name Anguilla japonica) appeared on the list of endangered species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2014, the challenges faced by Hamamatsu were more than one level. According to the report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the global annual eel consumption is about 130,000 tons, of which about 70% comes from Japanese residents. On the annual "Ugly Day", Japanese residents eat a large number of freshwater eels as a celebration. The ugly day of the earth is the highest temperature in summer. It is said that eating nutritious eels can prevent heatstroke. According to the data of the Japanese Bureau of Statistics, the eels consumed by Japanese households around the date of local ugliness can account for 30% of the share of eels throughout the year. According to the Japan Times, in order to meet the demand, the number of eel imports doubled in July.
The endangered status of eels has a lot to do with its unique life cycle. Eel is a creature that breeds into the sea and spends its life in both freshwater and seawater environments. After the transparent eel seedlings (also known as glass eels or young eels) hatch in the sea, they migrate to freshwater rivers to grow up and mature, and finally migrate thousands of miles back to the ocean to lay eggs and end their lives. Since the 1970s, scientists have tried to simulate the spawning environment of eels in the laboratory, but with little success. Therefore, eel farms can only rely on the capture of wild eel seedlings for breeding. This is like constantly withdrawing money from an account, but never saving money, which is fundamentally unsustainable.
In the Hamamatsu area, fishermen fish migratory wild eel seedlings from December to March every year, and then sell them to local eel farmers (Japanese "Eel Man"). In the farm, the seedlings are raised in the thermostatic aeration pool in the greenhouse until they grow into a saleable size. In December, I visited Dahe Farm, one of the oldest farms in the area. In the greenhouse of the farm, the air is as heavy as oil, with a tropical humid and fishy smell, and the torrent sound of the background sound is endless. December is the end of the eel eating season, and a new batch of fish fry will come soon. The person who took me to visit raised a plastic lid to let me see the situation in the pool. I saw a group of eels glimmering, like a well-textured silver seaweed swimming in the artificial torrent.
Eel farm in Hamamatsu City. Image source:http://solotravelgirl.com/
Yamato farmers told me that due to the reduction of eel seedlings, more than 30 other eel farms in Yamato and Hamaming Lake, including the processing industry around Hamaming Minhu, will usher in a downturn. In 1965, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, as many as 140 tons of eel seedlings were caught in Japan; in 2000, this number fell to only 40 tons, a decrease of 71% in 35 years. As Japan's fry catch is decreasing day by day, more and more fish fry have begun to import from China, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines and even the United States. Nowadays, all fish fry in Dahe Farm come from mainland Japan, but its high price makes many consumers prefer imported fish fry from China and Taiwan.
However, the real impact on Japan's eel farming industry is yet to come: the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to be held later this year may restrict the sale of Japanese eel seedlings. At the same time, some Japanese institutions believe that stricter rules for the eel farming industry may save the industry. In order to avoid restrictions, the All-Japan Eel Culture Association and the Japan Eel Breeding Enterprises Federation have discussed some measures to improve the monitoring and reporting of data in the industry. The Japan Fisheries Bureau requires eel farms to implement a licensing system. If the purchase of eel seedlings exceeds a certain limit, they will also be fined. In 2014, Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea all agreed to limit future eel seedling catch to 80% of that year. However, the drawback of this measure is to set an artificially high upper limit. According to the data of the Japan Fisheries Bureau, the total amount of fishing in 2014 was unusually high compared with the previous year, three times that of 2013.
In Hamamatsu, there are few signs that this species is in danger, except for rising prices. Eels are still ubiquitous, and the business of supermarkets, department stores and restaurants is as usual. In the last month of my trip, although I knew that eating eel rice had become an irresponsible choice, I still went to two high-end restaurants in Hamamatsu with my relatives to taste delicious food, where I ate the most delicious eel in my life.
Eel has become a delicacy that people should give up but can't give up. Image source:Yelp
Or maybe because the eel in my eyes has become more of a delicacy and should be tasted for the last time before it disappears. Fortunately, people's cultural needs and sustainable lifestyles can coincide and go hand in hand. However, there is an insurmountable gap between the two sides of Hamamatsu; and as the natural resources on the earth become more and more tense, there will be more places like Hamamatsu.
Even if you know its environmental and social consequences, it is difficult to describe the relationship between people and food purely rationally. I understand that it will be counterproductive to eat eels in order to satisfy the desire to appetite, and the cumulative impact of consumption by many families on the eel population will also be devastating. However, the cultural meaning carried by food is so precious that it is not easy for me to give up eels, a food of special significance. For Hamamatsu, stripping the most important feature of eel farming is tantamount to cutting off the cultural roots of the city. The question is, is there really a choice in this city? ( Author: Katie Okamoto, this article is translated by Liangjun, and this article is reprinted on 果壳网)