to Asia, New and ingenious methods to determine the origin 

 of salmon caught on the high seas have been devised. 



With these new methods it has been found that Asian red, 

 chum, and pink salmon, especially chums and pinks, come 

 almost as far east as the tip of the Alaska Peninsula, Con- 

 versely, American salmon are found far to sea, moving 

 thousands of miles during their ocean life. Some Bristol 

 Bay red salmon are found far west in waters near Kamchatka, 



The general outlines of the areas and extent of inter- 

 mingling have been determined. However, variations in 

 numbers of the various species in various parts of the ocean 

 and at various seasons require more investigation. 



The Protocol provides that the question of possible relo- 

 cation of the provisional abstention line shall be referred to 

 a neutral committee of scientists if the Commission fails 

 within a reasonable time to make a unanimous recommenda- 

 tion. At present, however, there is disagreement within the 

 Commission as to interpretation of certain language of the 

 Protocol, specifically as to whether the words "best divide** 

 and "equitably divide*' mean "divide*' in the sense of **to 

 separate" or in the sense of "to apportion*'. 



It is the Japanese contention that the line should divide 

 the salmon of the area, including all species, in such a 

 way that the nximber of North American salmon found west 

 of the line is equal to the niimber of Asian salmon found east 

 of the line. This would, of course, permit them to catch the 

 large numbers of Bristol Bay reds which cross the line and 

 would not interfere seriously with their ability to catch 

 salmon of Asian origin which move east of the line, for 

 these salmon eventually must return to Asian shores to 

 spawn, ivloreover, Asian salmon wovild not be vulnerable 

 to capture by American fishermen east of the line, for we 

 prohibit salmon fishing with nets on the high seas. 



It is the contention of the United States Section that the 

 Protocol shoiild be interpreted in the light of the primary 

 objective of the treaty, which is to apply the principle of 

 abstention to the entire stock of salnnon coming within its 

 purview, and therefore the line should be so located that the 

 Japanese will abstain from catching American salmon. We 

 recognize, of course, that the abstention principle should 

 not be interpreted so rigidly that Japan will be prevented 

 from continuing her historical fishery for Asian salnnon. 



Despite the increasing volume of scientific knowledge on 

 intermingling of North Amierican and Asian salmon, it will 

 not be possible to refer the data to a neutral committee for 

 decision until the disagreement over interpretation is re- 

 solved. The meaning of the language is fundamentcd to the 

 decision a neutral committee would be asked to make. 

 Because this disagreement involves the basic terms of 

 reference of the Commission, the question of interpretation 

 of the Protocol has been referred to the three Governments 

 for clarification. 



Thus, the Commission is not in a position at present to 

 come to a decision regarding relocation of the abstention 



