Our Projects
We work with small-scale fishers and farmers to accelerate the transition to sustainable and responsible fisheries and aquaculture.
Project Jusanhama (13 fishing villages)
Project Jusanhama (13 fishing villages)
Fish & Planet and the youth group of 19 wakame and kelp farmers
in Jusanhama, Ishinomaki, Miyagi, Japan obtained ASC-MSC certification in November 2022 and start selling ASC certified products at home and abroad in 2023.
The youth group of 19 wakame and kelp farmers (the "Youth Group" or "Group") experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011.
The youth group of 19 wakame and kelp farmers (the "Youth Group" or "Group") experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011.
The Group members are the 3rd generation of the families cultivating wakame and kelps for about 70 years in Jusanhama. When the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred in March 2011, all farmers in Jusanhama lost all the farms and farming facilities due to the great tsunami. While some farmers gave up on farming and left Jusanhama, the Youth Group members' families joined hands together and decided to restart aquaculture in the land and sea inherited from their predecessor. At the time, the Youth Group members were in their 20s.
The Youth Group were concerned about the future.
The Youth Group were concerned about the future.
Since then, the Group members have been engaged in wakame and kelp aquaculture for more than 10 years, but at the same time, they have been concerned about serious decline in Japan's fishing industry as fishers and farmers are not popular jobs in Japan. In addition, as they are farming at sea, they have realized decreasing fishery resources and deteriorating marine environment, both of which are becoming serious problems across the world. These experiences made the Group members determined to pass on to the next generation sustainable and responsible aquaculture and rich sea environment.
Fish & Planet ("F&P") met the Youth Group members and decided to work with them.
Fish & Planet ("F&P") met the Youth Group members and decided to work with them.
Fish & Planet was founded by the 7th generation of Ginza Daishin, which started a business selling fresh fish to Kabuki's shibai-jaya (Japanese classical dance drama's teahouses) in Asakusa, Tokyo in 1830 and has been running a tempura restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo since 1893, as well as other three members. While having the same concern as the Group does, F&P met the Group members and decided to work with them to pass on to the next generation sustainable fisheries and aquaculture and rich marine environment by launching Project Jusanhama.
F&P helped the Youth Group to get ASC-MSC seaweed (algae) certification.
F&P helped the Youth Group to get ASC-MSC seaweed (algae) certification.
Since 2021, the Youth Group and F&P have been working on obtaining ASC-MSC seaweed (algae) certification for the Group's wakame and kelp aquaculture to demonstrate that they are well managed and minimize the adverse environmental and social impacts. Then, from April 18th to April 22nd, 2022, the on-site audit was conducted by DNV Business Assurance Japan for the certification. The Youth Group and F&P obtained ASC-MSC seaweed (algae) certification in November 2022.
F&P starts selling ASC certified wakame and kelp in 2023.
F&P starts selling ASC certified high-quality and delicious wakame and kelps produced by the Youth Group through environmentally and socially responsible aquaculture. The Group's wakame production (salted wakame) is about 180 tons per year, and kelp production (salted kelp) is about 120 tons per year.
Location of Project Jusanhama
Source: Google map
Join Fish & Planet!
We start selling ASC certified wakame and kelp "sea vegetable" products in 2023.
Fish & Planet is a social enterprise accelerating the transition to sustainable and responsible fisheries and aquaculture in Japan and globally by working with small-scale fishers and aquaculture farmers.