PROGRAMAS DE SEGUIMIENTO COMUNITARIO

aid to the Pacific island region. But the overall influence of MAFF also needs to be noted. Traditionally, it had a strong interest in economic cooperation and, like MITI, it had pushed for the creation of its own agricultural cooperation agency at the time that the Overseas Technical Cooperation Agency (OTCA) was being restructured into JICA. The outcome, however, was the creation of an agency under MOFA, with some posts being shared by MAFF, MITI and other ministries.51 This issue reflected the strong sectional divisions within the aid bureaucracy and the way different ministries sought to control various aspects of the aid budget.

The Fisheries Agency, which is an ‘outer bureau’ of MAFF, had also pushed for its own aid organisation.52 When this initiative failed, the Fisheries Agency moved to establish its own channel for cooperation, by establishing a non-profit, semi-official organisation (zaidan), in association with the fishing industry. This is the Overseas Fisheries Cooperation Foundation (OFCF), created in 1973. See below.

The Fisheries Agency coordinates all aspects of Japan’s fisheries policy including negotiating agreements with other states for the right to fish within their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Responsibility for these negotiations lies with the International Affairs Divison of the Fisheries Agency. Located within this Division is an

50 ECFA (Engineering Consulting Firms Association), Annual Report, 1993-1994, Tokyo. 51 On the creation o f JICA, see Alan Rix, Japan’s Economic Aid, ch.2.

52 Although the Fisheries Agency falls within the purview o f MAFF, and under the MAFF Minister, it retains a high degree of autonomy and authority over fisheries related policy. The Ministry was known as the Ministry o f Agriculture and Forestry until 1978 when Fisheries was added.

Office for Overseas Fishery Cooperation. The work of this office is mainly to oversee the formulation and implementation of fisheries aid policy, including fisheries grant aid and technical cooperation. This includes the operations of the OFCF.

The links between the Fisheries Agency and MOFA on aid matters are facilitated by the placement of a Fisheries Agency official within MOFA’s Grant Aid Division. This official is charged with handling fisheries grant aid requests, liaising with the Fisheries Agency about approval for the request, and coordinating the pre-

Exchange of Notes process. According to a Fisheries Agency official, it is this secondment that is the ‘secret’ of the Fisheries Agency’s ‘control’ over grant aid policy.53 The Fisheries Agency also seconds several officials to JICA to oversee technical cooperation in the fisheries sector. For example, the Director of the Fisheries Cooperation Division in JICA, charged with carrying out project-type technical cooperation in the fisheries sector, is an official seconded from the Fisheries Agency. Other Fisheries Agency officials are posted to Japanese embassies in countries where there are important fisheries interests — for example, Thailand.54

Among the policy priorities of the Fisheries Agency is securing the operations of Japan’s distant water fishing fleets in foreign EEZs. Fisheries grant aid, introduced for this purpose in 1973, has traditionally been used in concert with access negotiations. Policy making occurs in parallel or tandem in the International Affairs Division of the Fisheries Agency, (which is explored in detail in Chapter 5). Jurisdiction over the fisheries grant aid budget is a complex issue, however: the budget officially is under the authority of MOFA. But since the creation of this special category of aid in 1973, it has been treated as a special case, with the Fisheries Agency assuming the main decision making powers over allocation.55

53 Interview, International Affairs Division, Fisheries Agency, Tokyo, May 1993. A possible role of the Fisheries Agency was to veto requests. Officials suggested that if the Fisheries Agency opposed a request, the project would not go ahead. Conversely, while the Fisheries Agency could encourage fisheries grants to certain countries, it could not determine the recipient government’s decision to put priority on a fisheries project versus a project in another sector.

54 Details were provided in interviews with officials in the International Affairs Division, Fisheries Agency, JICA and the Grant Aid Division, MOFA. In the case o f the Pacific island countries, a new Japanese diplomatic mission, established in the Federated States o f Micronesia in 1995 and with accreditation also to Palau and the Marshall Islands, is expected to include a posting for a Fisheries Agency or OFCF official. Katsuo maguro-tsushin, No.6985, re-printed in FFA News Digest, No.3/94, May-June 1994, p.3.

55 Interviews with Fisheries Agency and MOFA officials revealed that a movement was underway within MOFA to bring about the merger o f the fisheries grant aid and general grant aid categories. This is being resisted by the Fisheries Agency, although a former Director General of the Fisheries Agency observed that even if a merger was instigated, the decentralised decision making structure of the aid bureaucracy would ensure that the Fisheries Agency continued to control fisheries aid policy. Interview, Tokyo, June 1993. MOFA officials have argued that the special grant aid for fisheries is no longer justified on the grounds that it does not have the effect o f promoting Japan’s diplomatic interests in this area. The Fisheries Agency view is that this aid is effective, and MOFA is simply

There is overlap in the jurisdiction of MOFA and the Fisheries Agency with respect to fisheries aid policy and the conduct of fisheries diplomacy in general (that is, negotiations with other states on access agreements and international treaties). This area of diplomacy also happens to be a major part of the relationship between Japan and the Pacific island region, if not the most contentious. Policy is thus dependent upon the extent of inter-ministry coordination, in particular between the Oceania Division and the International Affairs Division of the Fisheries Agency.56

A unique feature of the structure of the Fisheries Agency is the office of the Special Advisor to the Minister on fisheries matters, a post created in 1977 to undertake negotiations with countries, mainly in the Pacific (Oceania), on access agreements. It is a position that enjoys considerable autonomy and influence. The role of this Special Advisor has also been to define policy on fisheries grant aid, in the context of Unking aid and access negotiations (as discussed in more detail in Chapter 5).

The Fisheries Agency also has an equivalent to ECFA — the Overseas Fisheries Consultants Association (OFCA). EstabUshed in 1989, OFCA subsidises project surveys in recipient countries by member companies and undertakes project design work. It has 65 ‘supporting companies’ including consultant groups, construction and engineering firms (specialising in boat building, engines, ice makers and fishing gear) and trading companies. OFCA carries out project identification work in the Pacific island region, but only at the request of the OFCF.57