左から久住社長と橋爪社長（From the left: President Kusumi and President Hashizume）

NTT Green & Food and OUG Holdings have decided to collaborate to promote ESG in the fisheries industry through land-based aquaculture.
Specifically, NTT Green & Food will be primarily responsible for the production of sustainable seafood, while OUG Holdings will be responsible for product development and sales of the produced seafood. Furthermore, the two companies will collaborate to develop seedlings and intermediate fish, including yellowtail, that can adapt to environmental changes.
OUG Holdings operates a wide range of businesses, including aquaculture, food processing, logistics, and retail, with seafood wholesale at its core.
“In recent years, wild fish populations have been steadily declining due to climate change and overfishing. Furthermore, the fishing industry faces an increasingly harsh environment, with the number of fishermen declining from around 250,000 in 2003 to around 100,000 today,” said NTT Green & Food President Yasushi Hashizume. “Amid this, NTT Green & Food is focusing on smart fisheries and contributing to the development of the local fishing industry. We empathize with this initiative and have decided to partner with them”.

NTT Green & Food President Yoshikazu Kusumi added, “We would like to increase the number of fish species we produce with the advice of OUG Holdings, who are well-versed in seafood consumer needs. We would also like to leverage OUG Holdings’ strengths in the market to develop seedlings and intermediate fish”.

As the sustainability of the fishing industry comes into question, land-based aquaculture is gaining attention as a new approach. Land-based aquaculture is considered a promising option for achieving a sustainable fishing industry because it is not dependent on the marine environment and enables stable production. By developing data-driven, smart aquaculture that utilizes cutting-edge technologies such as IoT and AI, it is expected that production efficiency and quality will improve.
By enabling the development of the fisheries industry in inland areas, it will also lead to the revitalization of local economies and the creation of new jobs.

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