Yuuki Kitada

Mr. Laferty
Language and Literature
February 16th, 2017

Unagi Editorial Writing

Have you ever dreamed of eating a huge grilled unagi with a lot of sauce on top? Unagi

are consistently becoming more expensive because their population is decreasing. Unagi are

considered as an endangered species and are in the I.U.C.N red list of threatened animals.

Since seventy percent of unagi caught around the world is sold and eaten by the Japanese,

Japan should take more action to help spawn more unagi in order to increase its population.

This editorial will suggest ways Japan can help increase the unagi's population as the largest

importer of this fish.

Japan should first make a limit or a law on catching the unagi in order to save them.

Japan imports more than a half of the unagi caught around the world, often from East Asian

countries like Korea, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. However, unagi are almost disappearing

in the seas of East Asia because of overfishing, so Japan is now increasing more imports from

far away countries like America, Australia, Indonesia, and Spain.

(http://trendwings.com/archives/1677.html). Even though Japan had agreed to cut imports of

unagi fry by twenty percent, they are consistently importing and overfishing them, which has led

the unagi to become an endangered species (Japan Today 9/30/16).

Next, Japan should make good environmental conditions for unagi in order for them to

live and increase their population. Adult unagi migrates from the ocean to rivers and lakes to

lay their eggs. The eggs will eventually hatch and unagi fry grow and swim back to the ocean to

live. However, because of constructions of dams, weirs, and bridges built in Japan, their

waterways to migrate are being destroyed. Also, filling in the rivers for building houses affects
their waterway too. Japan should make less obstacles in waterways for unagi to swim back to

the ocean. Also, Japan should pollute the ocean less and also help reduce global warming

because polluted, warming oceans are hurting the unagi worldwide. Unagi, usually, are fine

living in dirty water. However, their food, such as shrimps and small fish, are being affected by

this and are dying out, which leaves the unagi with no food to survive

(http://tazawakoeki.web.fc2.com/newpage228.html).

Lastly, Japan should save and spend more money on discovering ways to farm unagi.

Japanese universities are trying to discover a way to farm unagi, but this research requires a

huge amount of money. They have already succeeded on farming the wild-caught fry, but they

still have not succeeded in the mass production from eggs. The current process of farming is to

catch the wild unagi fry in the river and breed them in captivity in order for them to grow. The

way Japanese universities are trying to discover is to catch unagi frys in rivers, grow them, and

make babies to continue the process. This process is still in the beginning step

(http://www.nhk.or.jp/kaisetsu-blog/700/193744.html). However, Japan has already successfully

discovered a way to farm salmon, amberjacks and snapper, so unagi must be farmed too.

Japan is famous for sashimi, a raw fish dish, and also sushi. However, one of the most

delicious and famous fish, the unagi, is about to vanish from our dinner table. Unagi are now

considered an endangered species and have been placed on the I.U.C.N red list. Overfishing

and illegal fishing have caused the unagi to almost disappear. So, as the biggest importer and

consumer of unagi around the world, Japan should take action to save the unagi in order for us

to keep eating it.