KASAHARA: JAPANESE DISTANT-WATER FISHERIES 



Table 3. — Catches (metric tons X 10^) of trawl fisheries in different categories, 1959-69. 



1 North Pacific and adjacent seas. Including small catches by gill net and longline. 



* North Pacific and Bering, east of long I70°E. 



3 Including catches of the mothership fishery in the Gulf of Alaska. 



* North of lot 48°N, east of long 153°N and west of long 170°W. 



^ East of long 130°E. "Offshore trawl fisheries" in Japanese terminology (see text). 

 Source; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Japan) (1971). 



ducted in waters off Florida. Although the New 

 York fishery might expand further, it is un- 

 likely to become a major trawl fishery compar- 

 able to that in Africa. Fishing in the North 

 Pacific remains most attractive for large stern 

 trawlers, and there are at present no plans to 

 develop a major Japanese fishery in the main 

 international fishing grounds of the northwest 

 Atlantic. 



Trawl fisheries in other areas. — Trawl fishing 

 grounds in waters off New Zealand and Australia 

 (west coast) were known to Japanese companies 

 even before the war. Fishing after World War 

 II started around 1959 largely for porgies (spar- 

 ids) . The trawl fishery off Australia has never 

 developed to an important one, while trawling 

 off New Zealand has expanded recently, the total 

 catch in 1969 being 26,000 tons. Initially, the 

 catch was mainly porgies (similar to Japanese 

 "tai," Chrysophrys) , but now barracouta (Leio- 

 nura) is caught in large quantities, in addition 

 to jack mackerel and porgies. 



A Soviet fleet and some Greek trawlers fished 

 in the Gulf of Aden along the South Arabian 

 coast, before the closing of Suez, as well as in 

 waters off northeastern Somalia. Soviet trawl- 

 ers are fishing again along the Arabian coast. 

 Japanese trawling in the Gulf of Aden began in 

 1966 for cuttlefish, porgies, and some other spe- 

 cies ; eight trawlers fished in 1967, with a total 

 catch of 12,000 metric tons (Suisan-sha, 1970). 

 This again has not developed to a major fishery. 



Table 3 summarizes catches of the different 

 trawl fisheries described in this section for the 

 period 1959-69. 



Mention should be made of the shrimp fisher- 

 ies conducted by Japan in foreign countries after 



World War II (the Japanese did some shrimp 

 trawling in Mexican waters during the prewar 

 years). The oldest of these is the one along 

 the northeast coast of South America. Shrimp 

 fishing there has been developed mainly by 

 American operators since about 1955. The 

 establishment of a shrimp processing plant in 

 Georgetown (Guyana, then British Guiana) 

 marked the beginning of large-scale shrimping 

 in that part of the world. Processing plants have 

 since been built in Paramaribo, Cayenne, Port of 

 Spain, Barbados, Belem, etc., and several hund- 

 reds of American shrimp boats are operating 

 under various arrangements with the local gov- 

 ernments and business groups. Shrimp grounds 

 are generally between the Orinoco River mouth 

 and the Amazon River mouth, with best areas 

 located along the Guianas and northern Brazil. 



Japan started shrimping in the region around 

 1959 and developed a small fishery based in 

 Paramaribo. The Japanese government tightly 

 controlled shrimping in that region for unknown 

 reasons until 1967 when it relaxed restrictions. 

 The total number of vessels licensed reached 72, 

 including 50 land-based vessels and 22 vessels 

 conducting mothership-type operations. Main 

 bases are Georgetown, Paramaribo, and Port of 

 Spain. Initially, shrimp trawlers built in Japan 

 were used, but practically the entire fleet now 

 consists of standard Gulf of Mexico shrimp 

 trawlers constructed in the United States. The 

 Japanese firms have formed a joint company 

 apparently for the purpose of negotiating local 

 arrangements. 



Japan has also engaged in joint ventures for 

 shrimp in India, Australia, Madagascar, Malay- 

 sia (Sarawak), and other countries. Recent 



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