Oceans and meritocracy
A collection of research and educational activities related to the birthplace of all life
The year 2021 marks the start of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, a major campaign to advance the science of the ocean, which is the birthplace of all life and sustains the lives of organisms on Earth. This year, the University of Tokyo welcomed as its new president a scientist who has lived and worked with the ocean. From engineering, physics and biology to agriculture, law and economics, we introduce 500科同利’s ocean research and marine education activities as illustrated by examples from various fields.
| Fisheries Economics |
Oceans and meritocracy
By Nobuyuki YagiProfessor,
Suisan Kaikaku to Gyoshoku no Mirai [“Fisheries reform and the future of fish as food”] edited by Professor Nobuyuki Yagi (Koseisha Koseikaku / July 2020). The volume contains contributions from experts in various fields discussing fisheries reform in the wake of the enactment of the 2018 revisions to the Fishery Act.
Unlike agricultural or industrial products, marine products represent the bounty of nature, thus weakening a sense of individual ownership, says Professor Nobuyuki Yagi of the Laboratory of Global Fisheries Science. Drawing on examples of fishing communities in Japan and around the world, he questions the pros and cons of meritocracy and a winner-take-all society in which success is attributed solely to individual abilities.
