The purpose of this study is to examine puffer (tiger puffer, ocellated puffer) aquaculture and its exports from China and the imports and handling in Japan. This should help explain the details of puffer distribution and examine the spatial structure of fishery product distribution.
Producers in China began the aquaculture business of puffers in 1994. In 2000, about 1000 tons of Chinese puffers were exported to Japan. The aquaculture businesses are located in north China areas such as the Yellow Sea and Sea of Bohai. Chinese fish breeders began their business of puffer aquaculture to earn large profits since puffers are sold at high prices. Chinese puffer aquaculture has achieved mass production and low density by different methods from Japanese aquaculture, for example, the use of breeding rooms to pass the cold winters and the utilization of ponds where shrimp were previously cultured. It is necessary to take countermeasures to reduce the oversupply in the market owing to the expansion of production. Since consuming puffers is currently prohibited in China, free transactions of the sale and consumption of puffers are expected in the future as well as the establishment of domestic markets.
Today, low-cost puffers aquacultured in China are acknowledged as a new factor in puffer distribution. The areas that import puffers have been expanding overseas, and the users and consumers of puffers include all types of people. The target size of puffers varies depending on the size individual consumers prefer for cooking. This type of demand for selling and consuming puffers has become a major factor regulating the distribution structure, the actions of its elements and the interrelations of such elements. Cultured fish transactions, the introduction of puffers to the food culture, and the intermediations of cultured fish transactions by marketing wholesalers are also recognized.