Fishing communities between growth and demise

Since the late 1970s, Japanese fisheries have been grappling with global, national and regional transformations, and these have gained increasing momentum and intensity since the turn of the millennium. This project aims to analyze how different actors in Japanese fisheries are coping with these challenges, which new risks are emerging, and who is able to seize new opportunities within these changing conditions. These questions are especially relevant for the development of marginalized coastal regions in Japan, which are already confronting grave socio-economic problems and dramatic demographic changes. Building on previous field research in Kyūshū, the project will focus on different fishery cooperatives and communities, ranging from highly peripheral and marginalized villages to rather successful and well-connected cases. Taking into account specific local environments and internal differentiations, the project aims to identify the conditions for success and promising coping strategies as well as risk factors and vulnerabilities.