KASAHARA: JAPANESE DISTANT-WATER FISHERIES 



Implementation of the North Pacific Fisheries 



Convention 



Since the establishment of the International 

 North Pacific Fisheries Commission (INPFC) 

 under the convention, two aspects of the imple- 

 mentation of the treaty provisions have been 

 subject to intensive discussion between the rep- 

 resentatives of the three governments: the pos- 

 sibility of moving the salmon abstention line 

 (provisionally established at long 175°W) on the 

 basis of scientific evidence and the question of 

 whether the stocks on the abstention list con- 

 tinued to qualify for abstention. An enormous 

 amount of research effort has gone into the study 

 of the offshore distribution of all species of 

 salmon, resulting in convincing evidence that a 

 substantial portion of the North American salm- 

 on, particularly Bristol Bay sockeye salmon, en- 

 ter the waters west of long 175°W and that, on 

 the other hand, substantial numbers of Asian 

 chum and pink salmon migrate into the waters 

 east of long 175 °W.'" As the commission's rec- 

 ommendations have to be made unanimously, 

 no action has been taken for moving the pro- 

 visional line in either direction. 



The convention provided that, during the ini- 

 tial 5-year period, no examination or recommen- 

 dation be made as to whether the stocks continue 

 to qualify for abstention. The period expired 

 in 1958 and subsequent examinations of quah- 

 fications for abstention have resulted in some 

 changes in the stocks on the abstention list. The 

 following stocks have been removed from the 

 list: the herring stocks off the coast of Alaska 

 south of the Alaskan Peninsula and east of the 

 meridian passing through the extremity of the 

 Alaskan Peninsula; the herring stocks off the 

 coast of the United States, south of the entrance 

 to the Strait of Juan de Fuca; the herring stocks 

 off the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands; 

 and most important, the halibut stock of the 

 eastern Bering Sea." 



^' For the results of scientific investigations, see pa- 

 pers in Bulletins of the International North Pacific Fish- 

 eries Commission, for example, Margolis (1963), Kondo 

 et al. (1965), Hartt (1966), Margolis et al. (1966), 

 Neave, Ishida, and Murai (1967), Shepard, Hartt, and 

 Yonemori (1968). 



" While the removal of the herring stocks may have 

 been partly to demonstrate the workability of treaty 

 provisions, that of the Bering Sea halibut stock was an 

 issue of practical importance to all parties. 



The convention could be terminated by any 

 one of the contracting parties serving 1-year 

 notice after a period of 10 years, that is, June 

 1963. The Japanese government proposed ne- 

 gotiations for a new convention, which would 

 eliminate the abstention principle, and such ne- 

 gotiations have been held several times since 

 1963, with no result. The United States and 

 Canada would not consider abolishing the ab- 

 stention principle. Japan, too, appears to have 

 carried out negotiations more as a political ges- 

 ture than a serious attempt to change the status 

 quo. 



The North Pacific Fisheries Commission has 

 broadened its scope of operation to some extent 

 by including serious discussions on the crab 

 stocks in the eastern Bering Sea and the ground- 

 fish stocks in waters off the United States and 

 Canada. In the earlier years, unofficial and tem- 

 porary agreements were made as to the extent 

 of Japanese fishing for groundfish in the Gulf of 

 Alaska, as well as the way Japanese crab fishing 

 is to be conducted in Bristol Bay. These aspects 

 are now dealt with under separate bilateral, ex- 

 ecutive agreements between the two govern- 

 ments. The Commission has also been publish- 

 ing results of research conducted by the national 

 agencies of the three nations under its auspices, 

 as well as fishery statistics on such stocks as 

 salmon, halibut, herring, king crab, tanner crab, 

 and groundfish. 



In short, none of the parties have seriously 

 considered abolishing arrangements under the 

 treaty, particularly that for salmon. Both Can- 

 ada and the United States seem to be satisfied 

 that the treaty protects the North American 

 salmon stocks just as well as any other inter- 

 national agreement that can realistically be con- 

 ceived, while Japan appreciates the fact that, 

 in years of large Bristol Bay sockeye salmon 

 runs, a substantial quantity of North American 

 salmon can be caught by Japanese fishermen. 

 The only new problem faced by the commission 

 is the entry of South Korean fishermen into salm- 

 on fishing in Bristol Bay — a development which 

 might undermine the whole setup of the North 

 Pacific fisheries convention. As South Korea is 

 not a party to the convention, the commission 

 has not been able to take any action except to 



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