Achievement by 2020: 3) Food Resources and the Environment
The global community is facing climate change, global warming, loss of biodiversity, and problems with resources, water, and energy. Ajinomoto is determined to help solve these interconnected issues through its business activities.
Contributing to the Securing of Marine Resources
Cooperation in a research project on bonito resources
Bonito, also called skipjack, is the raw ingredient used to make the Japanese flavor seasoning HON-DASHI®, a key product of Ajinomoto Co., Inc., and is fished in the tropical waters of the Pacific. This area of the ocean has abundant and stable populations of bonito. However, the company believes it is important to continuously monitor the consumption of bonito resources and their habitats to ensure that people can continue enjoying products made with bonito stock with peace of mind.
As a first step, in April 2009 Ajinomoto Co., Inc. launched a joint research project on bonito resources off the Pacific coast of Japan with the Fisheries Research Agency's National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries. The research team will analyze the migration routes and movements of bonito, and the research will be conducted from April 2009 through March 2010.
Overview of 2009 joint research in the West Japan Pacific Coastal Skipjack Tagging Project
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Catching bonito by pole-and-line fishing using barbless hooks |
A tag is attached to each bonito. |
This research involves the tagging and release of bonito caught by pole-and-line fishing using barbless hooks in the waters around the Amami Islands off of western Japan's Pacific coast, an area where bonito migrate upstream. Under certain conditions, the migration routes and speed of the fish can be estimated from data on the locations and dates of tagging. About 1,000 bonito were tagged in the largest research of bonito that migrate from the Kuroshio current to western Japan's Pacific coast. The research expects to determine the movements of bonito in the area and the causes of poor catches by both trawl line and pole-and-line fishing in recent years.
- Location:
- Waters around the Amami Islands
- Number of fish to be tagged:
- 1,000
- Study period:
- April 2009 to March 2010
Tagging: May 2009; Recovery: June to December 2009; Analysis of results: January to March 2010
