SAPPORO - A Japanese high court on Thursday upheld a lower court decision by rejecting an appeal by a group of Ainu in Hokkaido seeking recognition of their inherent right as indigenous people to catch salmon in a local river.
The Sapporo High Court dismissed arguments by the Raporo Ainu Nation that they had the inherent fishing right, saying in its ruling that it would be equivalent to an exclusive claim to commercial fishing at a certain area of a river.
The group includes descendants of Ainu communities who began residing around the river in Urahoro, Hokkaido, centuries ago.
The Sapporo District Court in April 2024 ruled that the river was public property and that the rights of any particular group of people to fish there exclusively could not be acknowledged.
But it also said the group was entitled to practice their culture and recognized their history of fishing in the area dating back to the Edo period (1603-1868).
The lawsuit marked the first instance where the Ainu people sought recognition of their indigenous rights from both the central and Hokkaido governments.
The Raporo Ainu Nation said in an appeal that their rights as an indigenous people, recognized under international law, had been insufficiently understood by the district court. They also argued that they did not want to monopolize salmon fishing, but sought rights established under history and tradition.
