the Japanese

[?]t of Fish Not for Us

Get It

The fact that Japanese fishing ests are seeking a hand in more tuna fishing operations in the i Pacific —such as those of Pago and Pallikulo —and have ce available, was reported in lary “PIM” (p. 49). b US Fish and Wildlife Service now issued a survey of post- Japanese tuna fishing activities e Pacific, which should be of sst to the South Pacific— mlarly to interested parties in ka, Fiji, where a company is to rmed to catch and can tuna, hough many fishing vessels er far and wide there are four fishery areas. One is a purely lean fishery, adjoining the nrnia coast. The other areas ne Japanese spring and summer >ait fishery extending eastward Honshu; the winter long-line :y extending east of that; and, y, the Japanese Pacific tropical 'y south of the equator, is latter fishery has undergone ange of area since it was re in 1950. The first mother-ship tion was carried out over a □nth period by a 10,000-ton er ship and 25 catcher-boats emission of the Supreme Corn ier, Allied Powers in that year, w-fin tuna was the main pro at that time, but since then market demand has turned ly in favour of albacore tuna. 3 Japanese have discovered that >est albacore grounds are well ith of their earlier fishing area, richest and currently most -1 area includes the waters I Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and north e southern Gilberts, then in a eastward across the Tokelaus, lern Cooks and Southern Line ds to the Marquesas and some beyond. e best catches of albacore have taken in the waters south of md Tonga in the past several ns. That the fishing masters I on Pago Pago have learnt experience is shown in pub -1 figures of the percentages of ore taken which have increased 30 per cent, in 1954, to 78 per in 1958. e Fish and Wildlife Service y says that there does not ir to be any serious problems fer-exploitation facing any of Pacific albacore fisheries at nt, though further experience itatistical information will have compiled on the comparatively South Pacific fishery before this 3e stated with certainty.

Discussing the activities at Pago Pago, the survey shows that in the period 1954, when operations began, to the end of 1057, 13,515 short tons of albacore were taken, and 7,411 tons of yellowfin—plus, of course, many other varieties of fish considered non-commercial or incidental.

Last year, three Japanese mothership fleets operated in the South Pacific for the first time. There had been either one, or two, fleets in previous years since 1950. The third fleet of 1958 consisted of the mothership Koyo Maru, 7,600 tons, and an unstated number of catcher boats.

It operated south of Fiji from September 8 to November 5, and had a production gaol of 6,325 tons of tuna for the two-months’ period.

This fleet was ordered south on the

basis of good catches taken by the Tenyo Maru No. 2 fleet of the ‘same company, and because of poor catches near home, On available figures, the three mother-ship fleets must have taken about 16,000 tons of tuna from this southern fishery last year. In addition; possibly another 13,000 tons was shared between Pago Pago and ... £ further unknown quantity of *J sh was tak f n independent Japanese vessels, so the & rand J* as Probably well in excess of 30,000 tons the greater portion of which easy dlstance of tefritory derived any benefit from this harvest except perhaps some wharfages, slipway charges, and victualling provided by Fiji.