FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 2 



emphasis is heavily on shrimp ventures in In- 

 donesian waters. After conducting exploratory- 

 fishing, several companies now plan to establish 

 facilities at shore bases. The best grounds are 

 along the north coast of Sumatra, the south coast 

 of Borneo (Kalimantan), and the south coast 

 of West Irian. 



SALMON FISHERIES 



Japanese salmon fishing from the Russian ter- 

 ritory began in the latter half of the 19th cen- 

 tury. After the Russo-Japanese War, the two 

 governments entered into negotiations on the 

 question of Japanese fishing rights along the 

 Russian coasts. The resulting treaty of 1907 

 (went into force in 1908) greatly facilitated the 

 expansion of Japanese fishing activities from the 

 Russian territory. The treaty recognized the 

 rights of the Japanese to fish along the Russian 

 coasts of the Japan Sea, the Okhotsk Sea, and 

 the Bering Sea, including the entire coastline 

 of Kamchatka, the most important salmon-pro- 

 ducing area in Asia. A large number of lots 

 for salmon trap fishing were distributed, by auc- 

 tion, between the Russians and Japanese (Leon- 

 ard, 1944; Kasahara, 1961). 



After the Russian Revolution, a temporary ar- 

 rangement was made until a new treaty was 

 signed in 1928 after long negotiations. The new 

 agreement modified the arrangements of the 

 1907 treaty, but the rights of the Japanese to 

 fish from the Russian territory were reestab- 

 lished. The Soviet government thereafter tried 

 to expand the fishing activities of its nationals 

 by reducing the proportion of lots leased to the 

 Japanese, resulting in continuous controversies 

 and negotiations. The amount of Japanese fish- 

 ing for salmon in the Soviet territory was re- 

 duced drastically after 1941, when the Pacific 

 War broke out, and the entire fishery came to 

 an end in 1944. 



While negotiations for the allocation of fishing 

 lots were going on between the two governments, 

 the Japanese began to engage in a mothership- 

 type salmon fishery in waters off Kamchatka 

 (motherships were anchored outside the terri- 

 torial sea). The fishery lasted from 1929 to 

 1942. More important was the development, 



during the 1930's, of drift net and trap fishing 

 based in the northernmost islands of the Kurile 

 chain," which intercepted a large number of 

 salmon on their way to the streams in the Kam- 

 chatka Peninsula and other areas of Russia. 

 (See Kasahara, 1963, for catch statistics.) It 

 appears peculiar that such new developments, 

 which no doubt had substantial efl["ects on inshore 

 salmon catches, did not result in a serious con- 

 troversy during the prewar period. If these off- 

 shore fisheries had continued, difficult problems 

 would have developed not only between Japan 

 and the Soviet Union but also between different 

 Japanese fisheries catching salmon. In any case, 

 these developments clearly indicated what the 

 Japanese might do if they were excluded from 

 fishing salmon in inshore waters. 



Article 9 of the San Francisco peace treaty 

 states, "Japan will enter promptly into negoti- 

 ations with the Allied Powers so desiring for the 

 conclusion of bilateral and multilateral agree- 

 ments providing for the regulation or limitation 

 of fishing and the conservation and development 

 of fisheries on the high seas." The North Pacific 

 fishery treaty was signed on May 9, 1952, imme- 

 diately after the peace treaty entered into force 

 on April 28 of the same year. 



Expecting the abolishment of the so-called 

 MacArthur Line restricting Japanese fishing 

 grounds during the occupation period, the Jap- 

 anese government issued, early in 1952, its pol- 

 icies on the resumption of the high seas salmon 

 fishery. Three motherships with 50 catchers and 

 12 scouting boats were licensed. Each of the 

 three biggest fishing companies, Taiyo, Nippon 

 Suisan, and Nichiro, was authorized to operate 

 one mothership, with Danish seiners from the 

 coastal trawl fishery east of long 130°E (men- 

 tioned previously) employed as catcher boats. 

 The fleet left Japan just 3 days after the peace 

 treaty came into force. Although the North Pa- 

 cific treaty had not been ratified by Canada, 

 fishing was authorized only in waters west of 

 long 175°W and between lat 48°N and 55°N; 

 waters off Kamchatka and the northern Kuriles 

 were avoided. The fishery differed entirely from 



" The entire Kurile Islands and the southern half of 

 Sakhalin belonged to Japan until the end of World 

 War II. 



238 



