Pacific saury fishing condition in Japan

The annual catch of Pacific saury, Cololabis saira, by the Japanese fishery in 2019 was the lowest since 1950, but the fishing condition in 2020 has gotten even worse so far. Accumulated catch by October 10 was 2,789 metric tons (MT), which was much lower than that of the same period last year (7,110 MT). The nominal CPUE was 0.40 tons per haul (1.32 in 2019) in 2020, which was the historically lowest. The fishing grounds in late August and September 2020 were formed between 156- and 165-degrees east longitude, getting farther from Japan than ones in last year.