The Fuji Rainbow Trout Breeders Association 

 operates a processing plant in Fujinomiya City. The 

 association president, Watanabe, and the plant man- 

 ager, S. Aoki, conducted me on a tour of the modern 

 facility that processes 1 ,000 tons of rainbow trout for 

 export each year. During my visit, trout were being 

 packed in 5-lb packages for export to the United 

 States. 



My impression of the Japanese trout farming busi- 

 ness is that it operates on a very low margin of profit 

 and is successful only by virtue of its operating effi- 

 ciency at all levels. For example, the retail price for 

 farm raised trout is approximately 300 yen/kg. This 

 can be compared to the price of salmon which ranges 

 from 550 yen/kg upward and tuna which sells at 600 

 yen/kg and upward. 



Watanabe and his associates are quite concerned 

 over the restrictions of our salmonid import regula- 

 tions. These require certification that all salmonid 

 fishes entering the United States from foreign coun- 

 tries are free of the virus causing viral hemorrhagic 

 septicemia and Myxosoma cerebnilis. the causative 

 organism of whirling disease. I discussed these regu- 

 lations with Watanabe, S. Aoki, and T. Sano, vi- 

 rologist at the Tokyo University of Fisheries, who 

 serves as advisor to the Cooperative on Fish Dis- 

 eases. These gentlemen feel that since neitherof the 

 two diseases in question have ever been found in 

 Japan, our regulations requiring that certification as 

 to disease status be based upon specified sampling 

 and analytical procedures, places an unnecessary 

 hardship on exporters. After reviewing their prob- 

 lem and discussing it with our own experts in the 

 United States, it appears that Sano and the disease 

 technicians at the prefectural laboratory had misin- 

 terpreted our instructions and were indeed perform- 

 ing more laborious inspections than required. I have 

 attempted to clarify these points by letter since my 

 return to the United States. 



EEL CULTURE 



Eeh.AniiiiilUijciponicti. are an important species 

 in Japanese freshwater fish culture. They command 

 premium prices at all times. For example, in 1969. 

 when the production in Shizuoka Prefecture was 

 15.000 tons, the price ranged from 774-1,400 yen/kg. 

 In 1970, a year of low production, the price range 

 was 1,037-1,718 yen/kg. 



The culture of eels in Japan goes back 150 yr, and 

 despite great effort by scientists, culture methods 

 have not changed much. Since the eel is catadro- 

 mous, spawning occurs at sea and the young migrate 

 to fresh water where they grow to adulthood. The 

 Japanese eel culture industry is based on the capture 

 of young eel as they migrate to fresh water during the 

 months of December to March. Size at time of cap- 

 ture is about 3 inches in length. Introduced into 

 ponds, and fed a diet of either chopped fish or chop- 

 ped fish and pelleted feeds, they reach a market size 

 of 18-24 inches in 12-18 mo. 



The principal restriction on the volume of eel cul- 

 ture in Japan is availability of fry. Scientists are 

 attempting to overcome this problem by breeding 

 eels in captivity, but so far little or no success has 

 been achieved. 



The Tokyo University of Fisheries operates an eel 

 culture research station on Lake Hamana in 

 Shizuoka Prefecture near the City of Hamamatsu. 

 This well-equipped and well-staffed laboratory is 

 conducting basic research on the problems as- 

 sociated with the culture of eels, mullet, carp, and 

 various other species, including largemouth bass. 



The shortage of native eels forculturing purposes 

 is compounded by other problems connected with 

 culture of the species. Principal among these is dis- 

 ease. In 1970, disease took an unusually heavy toll of 

 eels in Shizuoka Prefecture. That year the industry 

 was hit by an epidemic of a new disease, named 

 branchionephritis by S. Egusa, Tokyo University of 

 Fisheries. This epidemic took 2,600 tons of finger- 

 ling and yearling eels during the first half of the year. 



Supplemental stocks of A .japonicci are purchased 

 from Taiwan and New Zealand, but these and other 

 foreign sources cannot fulfill the need, and the 

 Japanese are turning more and more to Europe for 

 the Atlantic eel, /I. anguilla. In 1971, 34,000 kg of 

 glass eels from Europe were imported. So far, the 

 results with/1 . anguilla have been less than satisfac- 

 tory, because of disease and nutritional 

 problems. 



I concluded my trip to Lake Hamana by dining on 

 smoked eel at the Prefectural hotel and dormitory. 

 I was so impressed by this product that I purchased 

 cans of smoked eel to take home with me. 



105 



