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Fishery organizations must prepare and implement resource-management plans in line with the guidelines developed by the central government or prefectural authorities. As at end March 2016, 1,868 resource-management plans had been prepared.

Several measures have been taken to prevent and deter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, through bilateral cooperation and information-sharing efforts, and through regional fisheries management organizations, for example vessel-monitoring systems and trade-related measures such as statistical document programmes and catch documentation systems.

Japan is a member of a number of international and regional fishery organizations [38] and has intergovernmental agreements with Australia, Canada, China, France, Kiribati, the Republic of Korea, Marshall Islands, Morocco, the Russian Federation, Solomon Islands, Senegal, and Tuvalu. The agreements with Australia, Canada, and France do not provide for access by Japanese fishing vessels and the agreements with China, the Republic of Korea, and the Russian Federation are mutual access agreements allowing reciprocal access to each country's EEZ. In addition, there are numerous private-sector-based agreements which provide for access to the waters of other countries and territories (Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mozambique, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, St. Helena, and Tanzania).

[38] Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), South East Atlantic Fishery Organization (SEAFO), Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea (CCBSP), North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC), Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO). Japan joined the South Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA) in June 2014. The Convention of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), which Japan joined in July 2013, became effective in July 2015.

Chart 4.3 describes the composition of primary energy supply in Japan for 2008 and 2013 as well as the targets set by the new (2015) Japan energy policy for 2030 (see below for a more detailed description of this policy). The share of nuclear energy in Japan's primary energy supply has crumbled from 14% to 1% from 2008 to 2013 following the closure of nuclear power plants after the Fukushima accident in 2011. This has been compensated by an increase of the share of oil, coal and gas. The total energy consumption declined during the same period partly due to the increase in energy efficiency and partly because of the post financial crisis recession.

As illustrated by Table 4.11 and Chart 4.4, Japan is highly dependent on imports for all its fossil fuels; this has a bearing on its long-term strategy on energy mix. This strategy is detailed in the 4th Strategic Energy Plan of Japan , published in April 2014 under the framework of the Basic Law on Energy Policy of 2002 (Act No. 71), the first such plan after the Fukushima accident and the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. It establishes four basic principles, known as the 3E+S, namely stable supply (energy security), cost reduction (economic efficiency), environment, and safety. Its aim is to build a multi-layered and diversified flexible energy demand/supply structure. It was complemented in July 2015 by another document issued by the Government, the Long-term Energy Supply and Demand Outlook. The total primary energy supply targets/forecasts for 2030 were established by this document: a primary energy supply share of 10-11% for nuclear energy, slightly inferior to that prior to the nuclear accident; a slight decline of coal and gas; a considerable decrease of oil (from 45% to 30%); and a considerable increase of renewable energies (from 2% to 13 to 14%). In absolute terms and based on a hypothesis of yearly growth of 1.7%, the total primary energy supply is expected to decrease slightly. On the demand side the relative share of electricity versus primary energies is expected to increase slightly from 25% to 28.5%, while the total demand for energy is projected to decrease by about 10%.

This liberalization has not yet been translated into lower prices, due to the constraints created by the closing down of all nuclear plants in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident. Three nuclear power plants have so far resumed activity after their safety had been declared by the Nuclear Regulation Authority. This loss has been partly compensated by expensive imports of oil, gas and coal and the reactivation of thermal power plants. On average, tariffs for individual consumers have been raised by approximately 25% since the accident and there is no compensation scheme financed by the State for individual consumers. For energy intensive consuming industries, an exemption of 80% of the so called "feed in tariff" has been put into place, for an effective cost for the Government of ¥45 billion annually.

These new circumstances have added new objectives to the electricity reform, notably to secure stable supply of electricity by facilitating even more power interchanged between regions, to hold down tariffs as much as possible and to give due regard to the energy mix especially regarding nuclear and renewables. The targets for 2030 for the respective shares of nuclear and renewables in the electricity mix have already been established in the Long-Term Energy Supply and Demand Outlook, mentioned above. These targets are the following: for nuclear from 1% presently to 20-22% and for renewables from 13% of the total presently to 22-24% (of which solar 7%, biomass 3.7-4.6%, geothermal 0.8.-1.1% and hydro 8.8-9.2%). In the meantime power demand is expected to increase slightly (from 966.6 billion kWh to 980.8 billion kWh).

The Japanese economy went into a short recession in spring 2012, when the world economy decelerated due to the European debt crisis. However, it started to pick up in late 2012, with a movement in the direction of depreciation of the yen and an increase in stock prices starting from autumn 2012, while a recovery of new car sales from the reaction after the end of the subsidy for eco-cars also supported this. (...)

In order to address various challenges such as the aging of farmers and the expansion of abandoned farmland, the government has been implementing a "Aggressive Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries" initiative consisting of industrial policy (making agriculture, forestry, and fisheries competitive) and regional policy (securing the benefits of multi-functionality of agriculture such as preserving land ). (...)

Regarding plurilateral negotiations in relation to the WTO, Japan is now engaging in initiatives such as the expansion of the Information and Technology Agreement (ITA), Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), and the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA). These negotiations will achieve significant progress towards the multilateral trade liberalization.