distant-water trawler fleet, primarily active in waters 

 off India and Indonesia. China's trawling fleet is most 

 active in the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa. The 

 commodities most often targeted in tliese operations are 

 groundfish, crustaceans (especially shrimp), and 

 cephalopods (e.g. squid, cuttlefish). With the 

 exception of China, die distant-water trawling fleets 

 have gradually decreased in size. Older vessels are 

 either scrapped, or sold to joint venture partners in 

 economically less developed countries. As will be seen 

 in tlie subsequent individual studies, few new trawlers 

 are being built to replace the aging Asian distant-water 

 trawler fleets. 



B. Squid Jiggers 



Japan, tlie ROK, and Taiwan, each have significant 

 distant-water squid jigging fleets. The primary fishing 

 grounds are located in ilie southeastern Pacific off New 

 Zealand and in tlie southwestern Atlantic off the 

 Falkland Islands and Argentina. Witli the driftnet 

 moratorium, the distant-water squid industry will 

 obviously become more reliant on this method. A 

 coasiderable amount of exploratory jigging has been 

 conducted in the former Nortli Pacific squid driftnet 

 fishery, but witli litUe or no success.^ In the past few 

 years, attention has turned to new grounds off the 

 Pacific coast of Latin America. Squid jigging off Peru, 

 and, to a lesser extent, off Mexico, and Ecuador has 

 become increasingly popular. One sticking point, 

 however, is tliat coastal Latin American nations, 

 especially Peru, are requesting high access fees which 

 make profitable operations problematic. 



C. Driftnet Vessels 



Fishermen from Japan, tlie ROK, and Taiwan, 

 engaged in high-seas pelagic driftnet fisheries from the 

 early 1980s until the end of 1992. These fisheries 

 operated almost year-round and utilized driftnets that 

 often stretched from 30 to 60 kilometers in length per 

 vessel. The extensive and indiscriminate nature of 

 these fisheries focused heightened inteniational concern 

 on die conservation and protection of both target 

 species, such as squid and tuna/billfish, and non-target 

 species, such as marine manmials, seabirds, salmonids, 

 and odier resources. 



There were two high-seas pelagic driftnet fisheries 

 in the North Pacific: (1) a squid driftnet fishery 

 conducted by the three above-mentioned fleets; and (2) 

 a large -mesh tuna/billfish fishery conducted by Japan 



and Taiwan. The United Nations General Assembly 

 (UNGA) adopted Resolution 46/215 in late December 

 1991 which called for a 50 percent reduction in high- 

 seas pelagic driftnet fishing effort by June 30, 1992, 

 and a global moratorium by December 31, 1992. 

 Japan, the ROK, and Taiwan have indicated tliat they 

 will abide by the moratorium. 



D. Distant-water Tuna Vessels 



Tlie distant-water Asian tuna fleets, large and 

 varied, mainly use two distant-water tuna fishing 

 meUiods: longline and purse seine. Before the driftnet 

 moratorium, diere was also a Japanese and Taiwan 

 albacore driftnet fishery in the South Pacific. The 

 longliner fleets fish world-wide, while purse seine 

 fleets operate primarily in the west-central Pacific. 



Longliners: Asian distant-water tuna longliner 

 fleets are concentrating on high-value bigeye, 

 yellowfin, and bluefin tuna for the Japanese sashimi 

 market. Most of the Taiwan, ROK, and Japanese 

 longliners are now equipped with super low- 

 temperature freezing equipment which enables them to 

 maintain the high quality necessary for this lucrative 

 market. It appears that an increasing number of 

 distant-water tuna vessels are concentrating on Pacific 

 Ocean grounds instead of Indian Ocean or Atlantic 

 Ocean grounds. 



This concentration on die Japanese sashimi market 

 has resulted in an oversupply of sashimi-grade tuna. 

 The four major sashimi tuna suppliers (Japan, the 

 ROK, Taiwan, and Indonesia) hold periodic private- 

 level meetings to discuss ways to rationalize distant- 

 water tuna fleet operations and minimize oversupply 

 problems. Japanese industry observers currently feel 

 that China and Indonesia, given their plentiful and 

 cheap labor, may someday replace the current "big 

 three" Asian distant-water tuna fleets.* 



Purse Seiners: Asian distant-water purse seining 

 effort is concentrated in the central western Pacific. 

 The distant-water purse seine fleets of Japan, the ROK, 

 and Taiwan have all increased in number during the 

 past few years. Their effort is concentrated on 

 skipjack and yellowfin tuna resources in waters off 

 South Pacific island nations such as Papua New Guinea 

 and Micronesia. The South Pacific Forum Fisheries 

 Agency, concerned about this rapid increase in effort. 



