Japan's used coaster ships have a good reputation abroad, and there is a strong demand for them, especially in Southeast Asia. The selling off of coaster ships abroad is highly significant for owners of coaster ships in Japan, in that it provides an incentive to modernize their fleets through replacement construction; it is also important for their buyers in foreign countries, as it provides impetus for fleet creation. However, in future, the selling of ships alone will not suffice, as the creation of fleets in the buyer countries requires that Japanese coaster ship owners remain involved in repairs as well as ship management.

In an earlier edition of this Newsletter, under the title Promoting Hakodate through its Fisheries and Oceans (No. 244, Oct. 5, 2010), I discussed how the city of Hakodate was revitalizing itself using the ocean as theme for a variety of initiatives. In this article, I would like to introduce what was a main goal of our promotion efforts, the Research Center, which was completed and opened to the public in June of 2014. The article gives an overview of the Center, describes its mission, and outlines its future activities.

2014. This will be a year long remembered by those involved in cormorant fishing in Japan, for it is when eggs laid by sea cormorants used in fishing on the Uji river produced chicks that successfully reached maturity. Although cormorant fishing in Japan is said to have a history going back more than a thousand years, it is extremely rare for the sea cormorants used in fishing here to breed in captivity. This is literally a "first step" for the cormorant fishermen and their sea cormorants. With warm wishes for this new "progression," we hope to observe it as it unfolds.