MAFF Revises Bluefin Tuna Total Allowable Catch for 2026 Management Year

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) promulgated MAFF Notice No. 1607 in the Official Gazette (Other Notifications) dated October 22, 2026. Based on Article 15, Paragraph 6 of the Fisheries Act (Act No. 267 of 1949), this notice partially amends MAFF Notice No. 1938 of December 22, 2025 (Matter concerning the publication of quantities listed in the items of Article 15, Paragraph 1 of the Fisheries Act for the 2026 management year regarding specified fishery resources (Pacific bluefin tuna (small fish) and Pacific bluefin tuna (large fish))) and was issued under the name of Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Shin Takebe. The amendment is presented in a table format, utilizing a method where the underlined portions of the “Before Amendment” column are replaced by the underlined portions of the “After Amendment” column.

The quantities subject to amendment consist of three stages corresponding to the items of Article 15, Paragraph 1 of the Fisheries Act. Item 1 is the total allowable catch for the entire resource, Item 2 is the allowable catch by prefecture, and Item 3 is the Minister-managed allowable catch. The periods for the management year are also defined by category: the Minister-managed category for Pacific bluefin tuna is from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2026, and the Governor-managed category is from April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027.

Framework for Management Year and Publication of Quantities Based on Article 15 of the Fisheries Act

The notice divides Pacific bluefin tuna into small fish and large fish, allocating quantities for both the Minister-managed category, which is directly managed by the state, and the Governor-managed category, which is managed by prefectural governors. This amendment replaces the values in this allocation table, meaning the figures that serve as the basis for operational plans and catch quotas issued by prefectures will change.

For small fish, the allowable catch (related to Article 15, Paragraph 1, Item 1 of the Act) is listed as 4,015.8 tons. This value is listed identically in both the “Before Amendment” and “After Amendment” columns, indicating that this amendment does not affect the total quota itself, but rather the breakdown by category.

Total Quota for Small Fish and Quantity Allocation by Minister-Managed Category

The quantities by Minister-managed category for large fish are shown as follows (unit: tons) in the table of the most recent amendment, MAFF Notice No. 1563 (October 14, 2026).

• Pacific bluefin tuna (large fish) large/medium-scale purse seine fishery (category managed by total catch volume): 3,167.2
• Pacific bluefin tuna (large fish) large/medium-scale purse seine fishery (category managed by catch quotas): 86.6
• Pacific bluefin tuna (large fish) bonito/tuna fishery (category managed by total catch volume): 1,153.3
• Pacific bluefin tuna (large fish) bonito/tuna fishery (category managed by catch quotas): 16.5

In the revision dated October 14, the total allowable catch (TAC) category for large and medium-sized purse seine fisheries was increased from 3,138.3 tons to 3,167.2 tons. The revision dated October 22 serves to further review the allocation by category.

Allocation of Allowable Catch by Prefecture and Governor-Managed Categories

The allowable catch for small fish by prefecture is based on the figures published in the table of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) Notification No. 1296 (August 26, 2026) (Unit: tons).

• Aomori Prefecture 335.3, Toyama Prefecture 123.9, Niigata Prefecture 119.2, Ishikawa Prefecture 111.9
• Iwate Prefecture 106.8, Chiba Prefecture 98.7, Hokkaido 84.7, Miyagi Prefecture 64.0
• Kanagawa Prefecture 56.7, Fukui Prefecture 54.8, Shizuoka Prefecture 52.8, Akita Prefecture 51.1
• Ibaraki Prefecture 43.3, Fukushima Prefecture 30.0, Tokyo 10.9, Yamagata Prefecture 8.8, Aichi Prefecture 1.0

Since the allocation of governor-managed categories is set to reflect the fishing results and resource status of each prefecture, changes in these figures directly impact the fishery adjustments and the scheduling of operations for each prefecture.

Background of Successive Reviews Resulting in the Fourth Revision of the Same Notification

The announcement of Pacific bluefin tuna quantities for the 2026 management year has been repeatedly corrected even after the start of the fiscal year.

• MAFF Notification No. 1296 (August 26, 2026, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Norikazu Suzuki)
• MAFF Notification No. 1409 (September 10, 2026, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Norikazu Suzuki)
• MAFF Notification No. 1563 (October 14, 2026, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Kazuo Yanagi)
• MAFF Notification No. 1607 (October 22, 2026, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Arata Takebe)

All four are revisions to the same Notification No. 1938, and the revision dated October 22 marks the fourth review of this fiscal year. The fact that the issuing names span three different ministers indicates that the work continued across a change in administration.

Due to this revision, operators of large and medium-sized purse seine fisheries and skipjack/tuna fisheries, as well as coastal and offshore fishers operating under the governor-managed categories of their respective prefectures, must update their catch plans and quota management according to the latest allocation table. Because increases or decreases in quantity directly affect operational capacity in the latter half of the fishing season, there is a continuing trend in the field to verify both the finalized values of the notification and the operational notices issued by the prefectures.

Sources

• MAFF Notification No. 1607 (October 22, 2026, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Arata Takebe)
• MAFF Notification No. 1938 (December 22, 2025)
• MAFF Notification No. 1296 (August 26, 2026), No. 1409 (September 10, 2026), No. 1563 (October 14, 2026)
• Fisheries Act (Act No. 267 of 1949), Article 15