Size limits & closed seasons

Prohibited methods

• Sea and inland — Passing an electric current through the water
• Inland — Draining a stretch of river to strand fish (sehoshi)
• Inland — Upstream weir traps
• Inland — Underwater guns

Permitted for non-professionals: rod and handline (not trolling or longline), landing and scoop nets, cast net (not from a boat), spears and gaffs, and hand gathering without diving apparatus. Spearguns, spears that leave the hand, and detachable-head spears are all excluded. Diving apparatus, including aqualungs, may not be used to take anything.

The prefecture publishes a handbook for people using its seas and rivers.

Prohibited methods

• Sea — Any use of light — for attracting fish or merely for searching
• Sea — Spears fitted with a launching mechanism
• Sea — Walking push-net (etsuki-ami)
• Harbours and within 30 m of breakwaters — Fishing using earth or sand
• Sea except Ariake — Ami-dango bait for bakudan-zuri

Permitted: rod and handline; landing net, scoop net and basket scoop; cast net (not from a boat); spear without a launching mechanism, and gaff; hand gathering. Light may not be used with any of them. Five protected waters are closed outright, and further local restrictions apply — see below.

Local committee instructions

• 1 Oct – 31 Mar: eel over 21 cm total length may not be taken, at sea or in rivers. Note this runs the opposite way to the size limit above, which protects juveniles — in this window the larger fish are protected instead.
• Coastal waters from Uki City (excluding the Ariake side) to the Kagoshima border, and off Kami-Amakusa, Amakusa and Reihoku: red seabream of 15 cm total length or under may not be taken.
• 1 Jun – 30 Jun in the Shiranui Sea: swimming crab may not be taken with landing or scoop nets. In the Ariake Sea the ban runs 1–15 Jun.
• 1 Jun – 15 Nov: no fishing within 100 m of the mahi-mahi FAD set off Amakusa.
• On the Kuma River, taking aquatic animals is banned from 30 m above to 80 m below the Kumagawa weir at Yatsushiro, and likewise at the Shin-Maekawa weir.
• Carp may not be moved from one water to another anywhere in the prefecture, to stop koi herpes spreading.
• In Kumamoto City, released or re-released non-native fish are banned by city ordinance in the Ezuko area — you may not put a bass back.

Prohibited methods

• Sea — Anything not on the permitted list (Rules art. 42)
• Sea — Chumming from a boat
• Sea — Night fishing using light (Rules art. 37)
• Sea — Spears fitted with a launching mechanism (Rules art. 37)
• Kurashiki, Tamashima Bansho-bana to the Takahashi River weir — Landing net used with light (Rules art. 40)

Permitted: hand gathering on foot; cast net and landing net, neither from a boat; handline and rod; a trap of under 15 cm mouth diameter and 90 cm length; gaff; spear without a launching mechanism. Nothing else may be used in Okayama waters. Some public wharves are closed to entry for security reasons — the restriction covers the water as well as the quay, so approaching by boat is also barred.

Okayama and Kagawa jointly publish a sea handbook, distributed through tackle shops, marinas and charter operators.

Prohibited methods

• Sea — Diving apparatus of any kind, including aqualungs and simple rigs (Rules art. 37)
• Sea — Spear or gaff used with a diving mask; gaff used with light
• Sea — Explosives and toxic substances (Fisheries Resource Protection Act arts. 5, 6)
• Protected waters — Taking anything inside designated protected waters (Rules art. 34)

Permitted: landing and scoop nets; spear (not with a diving mask); gaff (not with light or a diving mask); rake up to 15 cm wide; cast net (not from a boat); rod and handline (no snagging); hand gathering; and trolling. A rake wider than 15 cm is out.

Local committee instructions

• Trolling requires approval from the Shizuoka Sea-area Fisheries Adjustment Commission. Approval is given for events that support regional development; trolling outside that is prohibited. If you are planning a trolling trip in Shizuoka, confirm the boat holds approval.
• Using light with a landing net, scoop net or spear also requires commission approval.
• Chumming from a boat with rod or handline is limited to one chum basket per rig, no larger than 5 cm across and 15 cm long.
• Common Fishery Rights cover the whole coast except part of the Enshu-nada. Each cooperative's right names its own species — abalone, tokobushi, turban shell, octopus, sea cucumber, urchin and a long list of seaweeds are typical.

Prohibited methods

• Sea — Taking reef-building coral of any kind (Rules art. 34) — up to 6 months or ¥100,000
• Sea — Taking sea turtles or their eggs — up to 1 year or ¥500,000
• Sea — Taking sea cucumber (all species) and glass eel — nationally protected, up to 3 years or ¥30,000,000
• Sea — Breaking reef rock, or taking sand, live rock or coral rubble from the water (Rules art. 39)
• Kabira protected water, Ishigaki — Everything except fin fish, octopus, squid and hitoegusa seaweed
• Nagura protected water, Ishigaki — Everything
• Six passages in the Yaeyamas — All aquatic life, during the third and fourth lunar months — a spawning closure for grouper and emperor, in force since April 2021. Up to 1 year or ¥500,000

Gear for non-professionals is set by Rules art. 37; anything outside that list is an offence. A spear must have a fixed head — a rubber-powered one is only allowed if the shaft stays in your hand. Common Fishery Rights here cover giant clam, green turban, horned turban, top shell, strawberry conch, three species of octopus, collector urchin, spiny lobster, sea cucumber, mozuku, hijiki and aosa.

Local committee instructions

• Coral trout (sujiara) under 40 cm and blackspot tuskfish (shirokurabera) under 35 cm are size-restricted around Okinawa Island. Note this instruction binds commercial fishers; the prefecture says applying it to recreational anglers is under consideration. Treat the sizes as the standard to follow regardless.
• Deep-water snapper grounds are closed to everything except trolling, in defined areas and periods — up to 1 year or ¥500,000.
• Taking sand, live rock or coral rubble from the shore is also restricted, under the coastal authority rather than fisheries rules.

Prohibited methods

Wakayama sets a 30 cm minimum on eel — more than twice the national glass-eel threshold and higher than neighbouring prefectures. The inland trout closure runs October to the end of February, so the Kii Peninsula streams are a spring and summer fishery.

Prohibited methods

• Sea — Anything outside the permitted gear list (Rules arts. 36, 39) — and permitted gear can still be barred under certain conditions
• Protected waters, juvenile nursery grounds, and areas closed by commission instruction — Taking any aquatic life at all
• Harbour mouths — Casting and jigging — busy with vessel traffic and dangerous

Note the blanket rule: **recreational anglers may not take abalone or sea cucumber at all**, whatever the size or season — both are nationally protected as well. Common Fishery Rights cover almost the entire Hyogo coast, roughly 1–2 km out from the shore. Inside a Class 1 right, taking the species it names — octopus, abalone, turban shell and the like — can be prosecuted as infringement. Some areas also run their own local angling rules agreed between fishers and anglers.

Local committee instructions

• The Seto Inland Sea Fisheries Control Regulations apply here on top of the prefectural rules — including the summer closure on small red seabream noted above.

Prohibited methods

• Sea — Anything outside the permitted list (Rules art. 40)
• Sea — Spear used with light; gaff used with a dredge or with light
• Sea — Cast net from a boat

Permitted at sea: rod and handline; landing and scoop net; cast net from the shore only; spear (not with light) and gaff (not with a dredge or light); hand gathering. Mie also closes named river stretches outright — parts of the Inabe, Kumozu, Kushida, Miyagawa, Isuzu and Ōmata systems, some for a few weeks in autumn and some all year round.

Prohibited methods

Kochi expresses its limits as closed seasons rather than a separate size table: undersized fish are closed all year, and the legal-sized ones get a seasonal closure on top. Read the two together — an abalone over 9 cm is still off limits from September to March. Inland, ayu opens 15 May and amago 1 March, and only fish over 10 cm total length may be taken.

Prohibited methods

• Ikuno-jima SW waters, Osakikamijima — Taking any aquatic life at all (protected water, Rules art. 34)
• Kuroshima E waters, Kurahashi, Kure — Taking any aquatic life at all (protected water, Rules art. 34)

Hiroshima pairs each size limit with a season rather than banning the size outright: undersized mullet, sea bass, rockfish, halfbeak and gizzard shad are protected only during the listed months. Hard clam and eel are the exceptions — those size limits run all year. The Seto Inland Sea Regulations apply on top, including the summer closure on small red seabream.

Prohibited methods

• Inland — Taking salmon and trout anywhere except designated areas
• River mouths — Taking salmon and trout inside the posted closure zones
• Everywhere — Snagging (hikkake-zuri) — jerking the rod to foul-hook fish. Named as the commonest illegal method in Hokkaido; usually aimed at salmon and pond smelt
• Harbours, breakwaters, rocky shores — Karame-tori — a pole tipped with shredded vinyl tape, dragged along the wall to snag urchin, crab, whelk or sea cucumber
• Harbours, rivers, lakes — Zaru-tori and trap baskets — a baited basket or folding trap lowered on a rope for whelk, crab, urchin or greenling
• Beaches and shallows — Joren-biki — dragging a scoop through the sand to sieve out clams, surf clams or corbicula
• Harbours and shorelines — Hanger fishing for scallop — a hanger-shaped rig dragged along the bottom
• Harbours, breakwaters, beaches — Crab netting — a baited net cast in to entangle crab
• Everywhere — Diving apparatus of any kind, to take abalone, urchin, sea cucumber or whelk
• Common Fishery Right areas — Taking octopus by rod, or free-diving for abalone and urchin — both are infringement of the fishery right, not merely gear offences

Hokkaido is the most restrictive prefecture on the Fisheries Agency's national gear table: trolling, scoop net, cast net, spear and rake are all marked ×. Only rod and handline, a landing net under 40 cm, and hand gathering are open to anglers. The prefecture publishes an illustrated catalogue of the illegal methods it actually sees — worth reading, because several of them look entirely innocent to a visitor.

Local committee instructions

• Barfin flounder (matsukawa) under 35 cm must be released promptly on the Pacific coast between Hakodate and Erimo — a recovery programme for a fish that was nearly gone.
• Pacific bluefin is under the national controls described above; Hokkaido asks anglers to cooperate with the quota.
• Hokkaido asks anglers to report their catch — a voluntary recreational catch-reporting scheme runs alongside the rules.
• Moving fish or eggs between waters is prohibited; the prefecture campaigns against releasing non-native fish.

Hokkaido publishes a full booklet, 'Fishing Rule & Manner', distributed free from April through the subprefectural fisheries offices — the most thorough angler guide any prefecture produces.

Prohibited methods

• Sea — Anything outside the permitted list (Rules art. 45)
• Sea — Spears with a launching mechanism — bow, gun, rubber or spring. Those count as a 'mori' and are not permitted at all
• Sea — Unapproved trolling — see the committee instruction below

Permitted for non-professionals: hand gathering, rod, handline, landing net, cast net, trolling (with approval), and a fixed-head spear or gaff. The prefecture amended the Rules on 30 August 2024 specifically to spell out what counts as a 'yasu': the head must be fixed to the shaft and the shaft held in the hand. Anything launched — bow, gun, rubber or spring — is a 'mori' and is prohibited.

Local committee instructions

• Trolling needs approval. Under a 2023 instruction of the Nagasaki Prefectural Federated Sea-area Fisheries Adjustment Commission, anyone other than a licensed fisher who wants to troll must obtain the commission's approval first. The national gear table shows Nagasaki as ○ for trolling, which is true only once you hold that approval.
• Nagasaki runs three separate sea-area commissions — Tsushima, Northern Nagasaki, and Goto — each able to issue its own instructions for its waters.

Prohibited methods

• Inland — Weir traps (yana)
• Inland — Trammel nets
• Inland — Bindo traps and anything similar
• Inland — Underwater guns and any spring- or elastic-powered spear
• Inland — Any gear or method using light
• Inland — Passing an electric current through the water
• Inland — Set nets, sweep nets, dewatering and draining a stretch to strand fish
• Inland — Taking the eggs of yamame, iwana, rainbow trout or sculpin

Tokyo's inland limits are the tightest we hold on eel — 26 cm, against 20–21 cm in most prefectures and 30 cm in Wakayama. Note also that the size limits and the closed seasons work as a pair: ayu of 10 cm or under may never be taken, and the larger ones are additionally closed from January to May. Most of the Tama and Edo rivers are covered by a fishery right, so a cooperative permit is needed on top of these rules.

Local committee instructions

• Trolling is now permitted, but only by approval. It used to be banned outright for anglers; the Tokyo Sea-area Fisheries Adjustment Commission may now approve it for tournaments and similar events. Casual trolling is still out.
• Chumming at sea is now allowed. The prohibition in art. 40(1)(i) of the Tokyo Fisheries Adjustment Rules was removed, so anglers may chum in Tokyo's marine waters.
• Corbicula in the Tama River estuary is under an annual committee instruction restricting both recreational taking and the exercise of the common fishery right.
• Bluefin tuna is under the national controls described above — relevant for Hachijo-jima.

Prohibited methods

• Inland — Weir traps, set nets and sweep nets
• Inland — Any gear with a launching mechanism
• Inland — Cast net between one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise
• Inland — Bin traps, dewatering, electric current, and any method using light
• Inland — **Diving goggles** — using a mask to spot fish is prohibited (a viewing box is allowed)
• Inland — Taking salmon anywhere in inland waters (Fisheries Resource Protection Act art. 28)
• 12 named weirs and intakes — Taking anything within the posted distances above and below the structure — on the Tama, Sagami and Sakawa

Kanagawa bans the use of **diving goggles** to find fish in fresh water, which catches out visitors who assume snorkelling and spotting is harmless. Twelve weirs and intakes on the Tama, Sagami and Sakawa have no-take zones measured in metres above and below the structure. Six cooperatives hold the fishery rights; each sets its own permit rules, and several were revised in 2025–26.

Local committee instructions

• Smallmouth bass and similar: taking them out alive, and returning them to the water, are both prohibited year round.
• Carp: taking them out and stocking them are restricted year round.
• Corbicula in the Tama River: taking, possessing and exercising the common fishery right are all restricted year round.
• Lake Tsukui and the Doshi River: cast netting is prohibited in defined zones year round; pond smelt is closed 1 Mar – 15 Apr.

The prefecture publishes a Q&A on recreational fishing rules (PDF).