degrees east longitude in the waters of the Pacific 

 Ocean (including the Bering Sea), or east of 170 

 degrees west longitude in the Bering Sea. The vessels 

 are termed "converted" because this fleet consisted of 

 16 former mothership-type trawlers when it was 

 established in 1976. The fleet consisted of 16 vessels 

 in 1980 and decreased to 11 vessels as of 1991 

 (appendix G). Vessel size ranges from 380-660 gross 

 registered tons. The operations of this fleet have 

 generally coincided with that of the northern trawl 

 fleet. The catch of this fleet is also mostly Alaska 

 pollock (appendix H). 



Hokuten trawlers: These trawlers are defined as 

 those distant-water trawlers which fish in an area north 

 of 48 degrees north latitude, and east of 153 degrees 

 east longitude, or west of 170 degrees west longitude 

 in the Pacific Ocean, including the Bering Sea and Sea 

 of Okliotsk. In addition, these trawlers fish in an area 

 north of 57 degrees north latitude, east of 170 degrees 

 west longitude, and west of 166 degrees west longitude 

 in the Bering Sea. The fleet consisted of 54 vessels 

 from 1985-90, but decreased to 47 vessels in 1991 

 (appendix G). Vessel capacity ranges from 280-350 

 gross registered tons. 



These vessels originally concentrated their efforts 

 on grounds in the waters of the United States and the 

 former Soviet Union, but with the reduction in U.S. 

 and Soviet allocations during the 1980s, this fleet began 

 to conduct operations in the donut hole as well as in 

 Soviet waters. After the Soviet Union prohibited 

 bottom trawling in 1991, the hokuten fleet was 

 compelled to rely primarily on the donut liole fishery. 

 In 1991, however, trawlers from this fleet also 

 participated in joint trawling with the Soviets in waters 

 off southern Kamchatka. Hokuten trawler catch is 

 comprised largely of Alaska pollock, with lesser 

 amounts of cod, flatfish, rockfish, and miscellaneous 

 other fish (appendix H). 



The Japanese Government announced a 

 compensation plan in November 1991 which 

 encouraged operators of small and medium-sized 

 trawlers, primarily hokuten trawlers, to retire their 

 vessels between 1991-94 in exchange for $1.9-$3.2 

 million per vessel in compensation.'' 



Northern longliners: In addition to the North 

 Pacific trawler fleet, there is also a northern longline 

 fleet. The fleet primarily targets cod and rockfish and 



fished in U.S waters unfil 1989. When access to U.S. 

 waters was terminated, the former 22-vessel fleet 

 decreased to 12 vessels. Since the fleet can no longer 

 operate in U.S. waters, it has relied on operations in 

 the waters of the former Soviet Union. In 1989, the 

 Japan-Soviet fisheries joint venture, Magadan Fisheries, 

 was established. Tlie nortliem longline fleet has 

 conducted joint operations in Soviet/Russian waters 

 since 1990 under this joint venture. 



Southern trawlers: These trawlers can be broadly 

 defined as the Japanese trawl fleet which operates 

 outside of the North Pacific donut hole and Russian 

 EEZ fisheries. An 8-vessel southern trawl fleet 

 initially began operations off New Zealand, Australia, 

 and the west coast of Africa in 1959. The fleet grew 

 rapidly during the 1 960s and exploratory fisheries were 

 conducted worldwide, from waters off Argentina, to 

 those of the Northwest Atlantic (including Greenland), 

 and the Indian Ocean. 



Tlie size of the Japanese southern trawl fleet 

 decreased from a high of 99 vessels in 1986 to just 62 

 vessels in 1990 (appendix J).' The primary reason for 

 this decrease is that foreign allocations for the Japanese 

 southern trawl fleet have diminished greaUy over the 

 years (appendix K). Total southern trawler quotas 

 reached a peak of 176,000 t in 1985, but rapidly 

 diminished to just 41,000 t in 1991. The reduction in 

 allocations is reflected in southern trawler catch 

 statistics which show a decrease in catch from 450,000 

 tons in 1988 to just 322,000 t in 1990 (appendix L). 



In the late 1980s, its fishing effort was 

 concentrated in grounds of the southwest Atlantic and 

 New Zealand. Target species in the southwest Atlantic 

 are jack mackerel (off Chile), Atlantic cod, and sea 

 bream (off Argentina). Target species off New 

 Zealand are hoki, jack mackerel, barracuda, and 

 squid.'' Between 1986-90, an increasing proportion of 

 southern trawler catch came from New Zealand 

 (appendix L). The percentage of southern trawler 

 catch in New Zealand increased from 67 percent in 

 1986 to 83 percent in 1990. 



Southern trawl high-seas Ashing grounds: 



The high-seas of the Southwest Atlantic was a fertile 

 ground for Japanese southern trawlers until the late 

 1980s. Since the high-seas squid ground is small in 

 size and borders the EEZs of Argentina and the 

 Falkland Islands, there has been strong Japanese 



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