ABSTRACT
In Japan, yellowtail is one of the most popular and important fish and its cultured production has been the highest of the cultured fish species for more than 20 years. Yellowtail culture has shown rapid growth since the 1960s, due to increased demand and improved culture techniques, with tonnage and value of its production reaching 150,000 tons and 1 billion dollars, respectively, in 1980. Since then, however, growth in these figures has slowed down, and the number of culture farms has also shown a decrease. This has been due to the deterioration of environmental water quality originating from expanding production and to static low fish prices.
