I`m on vacation in Japan visiting my wife and the big Fishing Tackle show in Chiba. I found out while I was here that the Japanese goverment decided to kill ALL of the bass in Japan because they are not native and have taken over the native species. For those who don`t know, bass fishing is huge here, with over a million bass fisherman in Tokyo alone. All of Daiwa and Shimano`s products come out here before they come out in the states.

It may not sound like much, but it is a huge decision and a huge blow to the fishing industry, that I`m sure will be felt worldwide. I`ll be away from the computer since I`m only here for a few days, but wanted to share the news with you all. My wife is in the fishing business here, so we have been watching the events on the news closely.

Take care,
Phil

Phil, I have noticed that there has been a lot of interest in Australian bass fishing down here in Australia lately by the Japanese, also there seems to be a big push to make our Australian bass tournament scene to be more like the US style of tournaments, what the Japanese love. If this is true what you say, the worlds fishing industry is going to change big time.

I suspect that trying to kill all the bass in Japan would be about as succesful as killing all the carp in the United States.

heard about this saturday on ESPN on a story about Tokahiro Umori Bassmaster classic Champ
Japan's Bass clubs are fighting it along with BASS

That makes about as much sense as killing all the bows east of the continential divide, or all the browns in the US. Sometimes you just wonder what goes through the mind of a bureaucrat.

Daniel;
That part is simple, they are mentally deranged!!!
IMHP Doesn't seam to matter where they live either!!!

Fred Crum
Dixon, Ca.

What they going to replace them with, couldn't see a big goldfish putting up much of a fight.

If they decide, I'd be glad to help eradicate the Hungarian partridge and Chinese ringnecked pheasant!!! It'd be great to hunt these 12 months a year for the rest of my life!!!

The species invasion situation here in Alaska are Pike. Someone back in the 1950's -60's introduced them to a "closed" lake system, and they have spread like weeds in just about every lake, stream, and river in the Matanuska and Susitna drainage areas. The catch per day is very liberal because Pike are suspected of wiping out trout many lakes and streams, and have also been suspected as being responsible for the declining stocks of Silver Salmon. What made their migration so easy is because just about every river, stream and lake are interconnected via underground. They're tasty critters once you get past all the bones, however.

Patrick Vernacchio

"Japan's Environment Ministry has listed the largemouth bass among 37 non-indigenous species not to be imported, bred or released into the wild."


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Saw nothing about eradicating.

BTW, bass were first imported into Japan in 1925.

Hardly a new problem.

Saying you are going to do something and actually doing it are two different things. Killing all of the bass in Japan just doesn't sound like a realistic goal to me. We have been trying to get the Lamprey eels out of the Great Lakes system for years. I can't see any way to totally rid a system of a single fish species without killing an entire lake population and then rebuilding it.

That certainly wouldn't stop a bureaucrat from trying I guess.