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History of JSFO

1962: The Japanese Society of Fisheries Oceanography originated from the symposium on interactions between organisms and the environment, co-sponsored by the Oceanographic Society of Japan and the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science. The first president was Prof. Michitaka Uda, and the initial number of members was 101. The bulletin of the Japanese Society of Fisheries Oceanography "Suisan Kenkyu Kaiho" was published twice a year.

JSFO established the following local organizations for scientific workshop on fisheries oceanography:

  • Northern Ocean research symposium since 1968.

  • Sagami Bay environment symposium since 1977.

  • Scientific local workshop of Joban-Kashimanada since 1983.

  • Local fisheries oceanography workshop of Kumanonada since 1986.

  • Kyushu-Okinawa joint symposium on fisheries oceanography since 1989.

  • Scientific local workshop on the Hiroshima Bay area since 1998.

  • Scientific workshop on environment and fisheries in the Ise/Mikawa Bays since 2005.

  • Scientific local workshop on the Suruga Bay and Izu Ridge since 2008.

  • Scientific local workshop on the Sea of Japan since 2012.

  • Scientific local workshop on southern Kyushu since 2013.

  • Scientific workshop on fisheries and oceanography in the Sanriku area since 2014.

  • Fisheries Oceanography workshop on Hokkaido since 2015.

  • Scientific local workshop on eastern Seto Inland Sea since 2018.

  • Scientific workshop on fisheries oceanography and ecosystems since 2019.

Important milestones

  • 1986: The 25th Anniversary Symposium “Fisheries and Fisheries Oceanography in the Coming Century” was held in Tokyo and Dr. D.H. Cushing (U.K.) and Dr. R. Lasker (U.S.A.) were invited as keynote speakers. The publication of the bulletin was increased to four times per year.

  • 1991: The 30th Anniversary Symposium “Promising Fisheries Oceanography in Japan” was held in Tokyo.

  • 1992: The scientific journal “Fisheries Oceanography (FOG)” was first published by Blackwell Scientific Publications (U.K.), with JSFO as the sponsoring association. FOG has been the international journal of the JSFO since 2001.

  • 1999: Size and design of the bulletin was revised.

  • 2000: The “Matsumiya Foundation” was set up to help young scientists travel abroad, according to the wishes of late Prof. Yoshiharu Matsumiya's family (he passed away in 2000).

  • 2002: JSFO held the 40th Anniversary Symposium on “Mechanisms of fishery stock variation and management” in Tokyo.

  • 2011: JSFO received donations for the Great East Japan Earthquake from the PICES and ICES. Combining with the donations collected by JSFO, the PICES/ICES/JSFO fund was established for earthquake reconstruction research of fisheries oceanography. Using the fund, JSFO supported 11 scientific themes. The balance amount was donated to the education society for orphans of marine accidents.

  • 2012: JSFO held the 50th anniversary meetings in Tokyo, the archives of JSFO titled “50 years of JSFO activities” was published, and a commemorative exhibition event was held relating to the meeting.

  • 2013: The Society Council of Fisheries Science and Oceanology was established. JSFO is a founding member of the council.

  • 2015: JSFO published “SUISAN KAIYOGAKU NYUMON (introduction to fisheries oceanography)” to commemorate the 50th anniversary.

  • 2015: JSFO changed from being a volunteer group to a corporation.

  • 2020: Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the JSFO symposium to be held in March was cancelled and the annual meeting was held through an on-demand webinar in September.

  • 2021: Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the JSFO symposium to be held in March was cancelled.