Traditional land-based: The Japanese traditional 

 land-based salmon fishery consists of small to medium- 

 sized gillnet vessels having up to 127GRT. This fleet 

 operates out of ports on the east coast of Hokkaido and 

 nortlieastera Honshu. It uses gear similar to the non- 

 traditional fleet, but when it conducted high-seas 

 operations, it fished in an area soudi and west of the 

 non-traditional fishery.'' 



With access to U.S. waters eliminated and 

 allocations reduced in high-seas waters, the Japanese 

 Government initiated a compeasation program designed 

 to encourage a large-scale reduction in the Japanese 

 distant-water salmon fleet from 906 vessels in 1990 to 

 419 vessels by the end of 1992 (appendix V). The plan 

 emphasizes reductions in die non-traditional and 

 traditional land-based .salmon fleets. The number of 

 non-traditional land-based salmon vessels would be 

 reduced from 129 vessels in 1990 to just 28 vessels in 

 1992, while die number of traditional land-based 

 vessels would be reduced from 157 vessels in 1990 to 

 just 60 vessels in 1992. 



In mid- 1992, the entire 88-vessel Hokkaido 19-ton 

 class traditional land-based sahiion fishing fleet was 

 discovered fishing illegally on unaudiorized high-seas 

 grounds. The primary reason for the illegal fishing 

 was diat the quotas for Japanese vessels in Russian 

 waters were not sufficient to profitably support fishing 

 by the entire fleet. Consequently, the Japanese Pacific 

 Salmon Fisheries Association has announced diat 20 of 

 the 88 vessels in diis fleet will be eliminated in 1993. 

 It is not clear whether the 20 vessels will be scrapped 

 or converted for use in odier non-salmon fisheries, but 

 industry sources believe all 20 vessels will probably be 

 scrapped. The Association plans to seek compensation 

 from the Fisheries Agency of Japan and the Hokkaido 

 Prefectural Government." 



E. Distant-water Tuna Vessels 



The Japanese distant-water tuna fleet is die largest 

 of Japan's distant-water fishing fleets. It is also the 

 most valuable Japanese fishery with a total catch value 

 of approximately $2. 1 billion in 1 990. '•* There are diree 

 types of Japanese distant-water tuna vessels: longline, 

 pole-and-line, and purse seine. Tlie Japanese longline 

 and pole-and-line fleets have decreased gradually over 

 the years as diese fleets move to larger vessel sizes 

 which are more profitable for distant-water operations 

 (appendix W). Tlie distant-water longliner fleet fishes 



all over the world, with small longliners concentrated 

 in the Pacific and large longliners concentrated in the 

 Atlantic and Indian Oceans (appendix X). The pole- 

 and-line and purse seine fleets are concentrated in the 

 central western Pacific Ocean. 



Longliners: Japanese distant-water tuna longliners 

 first began operations in the Indian Ocean during 1952. 

 This fleet catches the majority of tuna (67 percent by 

 quantity) wiUiin the entire Japanese longline tuna fleet. 

 The distant-water longliner catch increased by 6 

 percent in quantity in 1991 compared to 1990 

 (appendix F). Longliners generally target bigeye, 

 bluefin, and albacore tuna for the Japanese sashimi 

 market. The number of Japanese tuna longliners has 

 decreased gradually over the years, from 795 in 1985 

 to 759 in 1992 (appendix W). This trend is likely to 

 continue as Japanese labor is scarce and increasingly 

 expensive and this sector comes to be dominated by 

 developing Asian competitors with cheap and abundant 

 labor (e.g. China and Indonesia). 



Pole-and-liners: Tlie Japanese distant-water pole- 

 and-line tuna fleet catches 53 percent of the entire 

 (domestic and distant-water) Japanese pole-and-line 

 tuna catch. Catch quantity increased by 31 percent in 

 1991 compared to 1990 (appendix F). Pole-and-line 

 catch consists of skipjack and yellowfin tuna for the 

 Japanese sashimi market. The number of Japanese 

 pole-and-liners has decreased, however, falling from 

 155 in 1985 to just 81 in 1992 (appendix W). 



Purse Seiners: The Japanese distant-water purse 

 seine fleet is relatively new, begimiing in the niid- 

 1980s with 500GRT seiners operating in the western 

 Indian Ocean. ''^ These are "single-vessel" type seiners 

 with a carrying capacity of 800 tons. Unlike the 

 longliner and pole-and-line fleets, the Japanese distant- 

 water purse seine fleet has grown steadily over the 

 years, from 32 seiners in 1986 to 49 in 1992 (appendix 

 W). In 1991, die Japanese distant-water purse seine 

 vessels operated in the following areas: 32 in the 

 central western Pacific, 1 1 in the Indian Ocean, and 2 

 in the Atlantic Ocean."' The distant-water purse .seine 

 fleet catch, almost all skipjack and yellowfin tuna sold 

 to tuna canneries, totaled 170,000 t in 1991, a 6 

 percent increase over 1990 (appendix F). 



With the concentration of distant-water purse seine 

 effort in die central western Pacific, many Pacific 

 Island nations have become concerned about possible 



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