FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 2 



stantial amount of albacore also. While a num- 

 ber of vessels still conduct both types of fishing, 

 distant-water tuna fishing is almost exclusively 

 by longliners. The main grounds of the skipjack 

 fishery are still in waters relatively close to the 

 Japanese islands, including those adjacent to the 

 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In the 

 licensing system of Japan, tuna and skipjack 

 fisheries have always been combined, mainly be- 

 cause the tuna longline fishery originally devel- 

 oped as a part-time operation of skipjack pole- 

 and-line vessels. 



Under the new fishery law (1949), all tuna 

 and skipjack vessels larger than 20 gross tons 

 were required to obtain licenses issued by the 

 Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, thus com- 

 ing under full control by the central government. 

 They were further divided between those below 

 and above 100 gross tons, called the "medium 

 vessel tuna-skipjack fishery" and the "far seas 

 tuna-skipjack fishery," respectively. In 1953, 

 after abolishment of the MacArthur Line, the 

 Japanese government enacted a law to provide 

 a preferential treatment of licenses for larger 

 tuna vessels (over 70 gross tons) until 1955, 

 as an attempt to develop tuna fishing in waters 

 farther from the home islands. The law encour- 

 aged licensees to replace small vessels with new 

 larger vessels and also accommodated the entry 

 of operators from other fisheries, particularly the 

 coastal trawl fisheries. A further policy was is- 

 sued in 1955, allowing vessels in the category 

 of the medium vessel tuna-skipjack fishery to 

 combine their gross tonnages to obtain licenses 

 for new larger vessels under the category of the 

 "far seas tuna-skipjack fishery." A number of 

 licenses were also transferred from the salmon 

 fishery to the tuna fishery as the number of ves- 

 sels in the former had to be reduced as a result 

 of the Japan-Soviet fishery treaty. 



Further changes were made thereafter to 

 establish a new category for the mothership-type 

 tuna fishery with deck-loaded catchers and to 

 abolish the distinction between the above-men- 

 tioned two categories, with vessels less than 40 

 gross tons removed from the licensing system. 

 As fishing by vessels less than 40 gross tons be- 

 came free of license limitations, the number of 

 such boats increased at a rapid rate with their 



fishing grounds expanded to both sides of the 

 equator." The government in 1963 put the li- 

 censing of tuna vessels over 20 tons again in two 

 categories divided at 50 gross tons, which was 

 later raised back to 70 gross tons. In short, 

 the government encouraged the tuna fishery 

 (particularly longline fishing) to expand into 

 waters farther from Japan with larger vessels, 

 and also used the tuna fishery for reducing the 

 number of licenses in other overcrowded fish- 

 eries. 



This policy contributed to the rapid expansion 

 of tuna longline fishing grounds. By 1960, the 

 Japanese tuna fleet had covered the main long- 

 line fishing grounds in the North and South Pa- 

 cific and the Indian Ocean. Longlining in the 

 Atlantic started in 1957 and the major Atlantic 

 tuna grounds had been fished by 1962. Fishing 

 grounds further expanded thereafter, though 

 more gradually. Fishing for southern bluefin 

 tuna ("minamimaguro," Thunnus maccoyii) 

 in waters off New Zealand and southern Austra- 

 lia has been intensified greatly in recent years 

 since new freezing equipment was introduced 

 to produce frozen tuna meat of highest quality. 

 The strength of the Japanese tuna longline fish- 

 ery as a whole reached its highest point in 1962; 

 the industry has been on the decline since then, 

 with Taiwan and South Korea increasing their 

 shares. Japan still has advantages over Taiwan 

 and other longline fishing nations in some 

 respects. It has a tremendous trade network 

 developed by trade companies to market tuna 

 anywhere in the world; the catches of many Tai- 

 wanese and South Korea longliners are trans- 

 shipped through foreign bases under the man- 

 agement of these Japanese trade companies. 

 High-quality bluefin is sold in Japan at a fan- 

 tastic price. Japan also has strong markets for 

 bigeye, billfishes, and other species that have no 

 or very limited markets in the United States. 

 But as far as tuna production is concerned, Ja- 

 pan's share will decrease further. In addition 

 to Taiwan and Korea, Ryukyu has a sizable long- 

 line fleet, which will become part of the Japanese 

 tuna industry when Okinawa is returned to Ja- 



" In the Japanese practice, the actual gross tonnage 

 of a vessel is substantially greater than the registered 

 gross tonnage (RGT) in most cases. 



242 



