Micronesian Fisheries Corporation; it will allow small- 

 scale Japanese tuna vessels (less tlian 20GRT) to t'lsh in 

 Micronesian waters. Tlie vessels will be mostly based 

 in Okinawa Prefecture ports, but vessels from otlier 

 prefectures will be allowed to participate. The venture 

 was scheduled to begin operations in March 1993 after 

 purchasing a used airplane which will transport fresh 

 tuna to the Japanese market. The venture is being 

 watched closely by tuna industry observers as a new 

 opportunity for the deployment of small-scale Japanese 

 tuna vessels.'" 



Other joint ventures have been established between 

 Taiyo Fisheries and the Chunk State Government in 

 1990, and between the Japan Overseas Fisheries 

 Company and Chunk in 1991. Botli joint ventures are 

 currently inactive" 



New Zealand: Japanese trawlers, squid jiggers, 

 and tuna longliners operate in New Zealand waters 

 under a bilateral general access agreement which was 

 reached in September 1978. A total of 40 Japanese 

 tuna longliners, 32 trawlers, and 29 squid jiggers were 

 permitted to fish in the New Zealand EEZ during the 

 1990/91 fishing season. Since the introduction of New 

 Zealand's Quota Management System, however, only 

 New Zealand companies and individuals may own 

 fishing quota and foreign investment in New Zealand 

 companies is limited to 24.9 percent. Quota holders 

 may choose to use their own vessels or charter foreign 

 vessels to catch dieir quota. 



Under a charter arrangement, a foreign vessel is 

 hired to catch a quantity of fish which a New Zealand 

 company owns. Charter foreign fishing vessels catch 

 approximately 60 percent of the entire catch in the New 

 Zealand EEZ. An estimated 100 foreign fishing 

 vessels will be hired under charter arrangements in tlie 

 1992/93 fishing year. Tliese vessels come from many 

 countries, including Japan. New Zealand companies 

 have benefitted greatly from the use of foreign 

 chanered vessels because of the lower catching costs 

 for the.se vessels. The chartered vessel catch is 

 compo.sed largely of groundfish species, such as hoki 

 and southern blue whiting, and squid. ^^ 



Japanese trawlers have targeted squid, jack 

 mackerel, barracuda, and hoki in New Zealand waters 

 since 1959. The majority of tlie total Japanese .southern 

 trawler catch was taken in waters off New Zealand 

 between 1988-90 (appendix L). Catch in New Zealand 



decrea.sed slightly over this three-year period while 

 fleet deployment stabilized at 32-33 trawlers. 



New Zealand has traditionally been Japan's leading 

 southern trawler fishery, but the imposition of a New 

 Zealand EEZ brought with it greatly reduced 

 allocations and catch. As in other parts of tlie world, 

 Japanese allocations have been gradually phased out as 

 more of the most valuable fishery resources have been 

 allocated to domestic fishermen. Japan has received no 

 quota since 1991, and has been obliged to fonn joint 

 ventures or operate on a charter basis with New 

 Zealand fishing companies. Many joint ventures have 

 been fonned to fish hoki, a groundfish species used in 

 surimi production. Hoki is the most important target 

 species for Japanese southern trawlers tlshing in New 

 Zealand, usually comprising two-thirds of the total 

 catch (appendix M). 



With the nationalization of the New Zealand fishery 

 as an impetus, Japanese companies have fonned .5 

 trawling joint ventures. Taiyo has fonned 2 joint 

 ventures while the smaller Kanai Gyogyo has fonned 

 3 joint ventures. All of these ventures were fonned 

 between 1985-90 (appendix WW). 



Japanese squid jiggers conducted initial exploratory 

 fishing off New Zealand during 1970. Thanks to poor 

 domestic catch and the fact that the New Zealand squid 

 season was opposite that in Japan, over 100 Japanese 

 jiggers flocked to this fishery by die mid- 1970s. Since 

 New Zealand's declaration of a 200-mile EEZ in 1988, 

 however, Japanese allocations and catch have decreased 

 drastically. From a peak of 138 vessels catching 

 50,000 t in 1988/89, only 8,500 t was caught by 29 

 jiggers in the 1990/91 season (appendix N). The 

 decline in effort continues as 8 Japanese jiggers caught 

 just 3,800 t of squid in die 1992/93 season, compared 

 to 6, 100 t in 1991/92.'"' Japan no longer receives direct 

 allocations under New Zealand's ITQ management 

 system, but rather forms pro forma joint ventures 

 through which Japanese fimis can receive Individual 

 Transferable Quota (ITQ) allocations. 



Two squid jigging joint ventures have been formed 

 in New Zealand (appendix WW). The Nichimo 

 company of Japan fonned a squid jigging joint venture 

 in 1973 called Jaybel Nichimo Fishing Ltd., and 

 anodier venture called Allied Fisheries N.Z. Ltd. was 

 formed with the Toshoku Takara Gyogyo in 1979. 



40 



