The Tokushima Factory of Daio Paper Products Corporation is a member of an association breeding and releasing Kawabata-moroko, which is designated as Endangered Class IA. Using water tanks on its property, the factory has been breeding 200 fish that it received from Tokushima Prefecture in January 2016. The fish population declined by 50 in the first two years. However, by protecting the remaining fish from birds, setting protective cases for its fry, and managing the water temperature even more carefully, the factory has been successfully increasing the number of the fish since the third year. As of June 2022, 1,090 individual fish were identified. For further breeding, the factory has added various measures, such as monitoring the water quality, setting spawning beds, and cleaning the protective cases. Toward the target of releasing more than 200 fish to their original habitat, the factory will continue to breed the fish in cooperation with Tokushima Prefecture.
Water tank in the factory
Freshwater fish Kawabata-moroko
Freshwater fish Kawabata-moroko fry