Table 4— Japanese central Bering Sea shrimp fishery statistics 



International North Pacific Fisheries Commission, ig65a and 

 1966b. 



(f- 



Shrimp entering processing system on Japanese factory ship in 

 eastern Bering Sea. The shrimp are transferred in baskets from 

 the trawlers to the deck of a factory ship and then shoveled onto 

 a conveyor which carries them to peelers and then below deck to 

 processing facilities. 



Shrimp peelers on deck of a Japanese factory ship in central 

 Bering Sea. The meat is extracted from the shrimp by 

 mechanical peelers on deck and then conveyed to below deck 

 where facilities for canning and freezing are located. 



The catch increased from 11,250 tons in 1961 to 

 34,775 tons in 1963 and then decreased to 3,230 tons in 

 1966 (table 4). Members of the Japanese fishing industry 

 and of the Japanese Fishery Agency have attributed the 

 decreased catches in 1964-66 to a declining abundance 

 of shrimp in the central Bering Sea but do not entirely 

 agree on the cause of this decline. Members of the 

 industry said that changing oceanological conditions 

 were the sole cause, whereas a spokesman for the 

 Fishery Agency said overfishing was also a major factor. 



Because of low catches of shrimp in 1965, 1 of the 2 

 factory ships and 12 of the 27 trawlers switched to 

 groundfish trawling along the Aleutian Islands a few 

 weeks after entering the shrimp fishery. Later that fall, 

 this fleet returned to the shrimp fishery for about one 

 month before sailing for Japan. 



The shrimp fishery is centered around a factory ship 

 which receives the catches from accompanying trawlers. 

 Aboard the factory ship, the shrimp (principally pink 

 and sidestripe) are peeled by machine and cooked; most 

 of the meat is canned although some is frozen. 

 Incidental catches of groundfish (mostly Pacific ocean 

 perch) in the shrimp fishery are retained and frozen. 



fflGH-SEAS SALMON FISHERY 



Japan began fishing for salmon on the high seas in the 

 early 1900's and continued until World War II. During 

 this period, the fishery was confined essentially to the 

 western North Pacific off the coast of the Soviet Union 

 (Kasahara, 1961 ), the sole exception being in 1937 when 

 a factory ship and three catcher vessels made a brief 

 foray to the Bristol Bay area of the eastern Bering Sea. 

 This exploratory expedition met strong opposition from 

 tlie United States Government. This opposition 

 apparently caused cancellation of any Japanese plans to 

 develop a salmon fishery in the area. 



Wlien the Japanese resumed fishing for salmon on the 

 liigh seas in 1952, the area of operations was greatly 

 expanded over that of the prewar years. In 1952, fishing 

 was extended east in the North Pacific Ocean from off 

 the Soviet coast to south of the Aleutian Islands almost 

 to the 180th meridian (Kasahara, 1961 ; International 

 North Pacific Fisheries Commission, 1952). This 

 expansion marked the beginning of a Japanese high-seas 

 commercial salmon fishery in the Alaska area (fig. 8). 



After World War II, the United States initiated' 

 discussions with the Governments of Japan and Canada 

 concerning the formulation of a treaty relating to the 

 fishery stocks of mutual concern to the three countries. 

 A treaty, the International Convention of the High Seas 

 Fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean, was concluded by 

 the three countries and entered into force in 1953. This 

 Convention contains the concept of abstention under 

 which nations which have not historically participated in 

 the fishery would abstain from doing so as long as those 

 countries which have developed the fishery continue to 

 carry out measures of conservation and full utilization. 

 Japan accordingly agreed to abstain from fishing for 

 salmon east of a provisional line established at meridian 

 175° W. 



12 



