Under-ice Fishing in Japan : an Overview

摘要

Under-ice fishing is a unique way of subsistence activities in high latitude regions seen in Eurasia and North America. The distribution areas are widely spread but the population that practices this fishing method is mainly limited to indigenous peoples. In Japan, under-ice fishing method has been practiced in such lakes as Lake Abashiri, Notoro, Saroma, Akan, Furen（Hokkaido prefecture）, and Lake Ogawara（Aomori pref.）. Of types of ice fishing, seine, gillnet, and set net are common methods. Historically, under-ice seining had developed among Lake Suwa（Nagano pref.）by １８７０’s and in Lake Hachiro-gata（Akita pref.）by１９６０’s: the ice seining method in Lake Suwa was propagated to Lake Hachiro-gata in the end of１８th century, and then from Hachiro-gata to Lake Ogawara in the beginning of２０th century and from Hachiro-gata to Lake Abashiri a little later. In Lake Suwa and Hachiro-gata, gillnet fishing and set net under ice targeting freshwater fish like carp and flatfish also have been practiced. In Lake Abashiri, ice seining, the main target of which is smelt, has become an ordinal commercial fishing using gasoline engine for pulling net. In its neighboring regions, gillnet and set net have been practiced in Lake Notoro and Saroma. In several lakes in Nemuro and Kushiro region, set net also has been practiced. Unique under-ice fishing is thus observed in Japan today. Furtherstudies on the diffusion process of under-ice fishing into Japan as well as within Eurasia and America is crucial to understand the winter mode of subsistence of indigenous people. In addition, as the mode of subsistence highly depends upon ice coverage condition on the lake or river and the Indigenous Ecological Knowledge, continued research on how global warming process affects under-ice fishing is also expected.