Figure 8.— Japanese high-seas salmon fishing areas. 



The Japanese high-seas sahnon fishery throughout the 

 North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea is governed by the 

 aforementioned Convention and the Northwest Pacific 

 Fisheries Treaty between Japan and the U.S.S.R., which 

 regulates Japanese high-seas salmon fishing in the 

 remainder of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea 

 between long. 175° W. and the Soviet coast. A provision 

 of the latter treaty places a quota on the annual 

 Japanese high-seas salmon catch. This quota is 

 renegotiated each year. 



The Japanese high-seas salmon fishery in postwar 

 years has been marked by an expansion of the fishing 

 area and fluctuations in the number of vessels and the 

 catch. The fishery in 1952-55 took place in the North 

 Pacific Ocean from off the Soviet coast to south of the 

 western Aleutians as far east as the 180th meridian 

 (International North Pacific Fisheries Commission, 

 1953-56). In 1956 the fleets moved farther east toward 

 the INPFC provisional line at long. 175° W. and also 

 moved north into the Bering Sea. Each year since 1956, 

 this fishery has been active in that broad area in the 

 North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea (International 

 North Pacific Fisheries Commission, 1957-61, 1962a, 

 1963a, 1964, 1965a, 1966a, and 1967). Fishing begins 

 about mid-May and lasts until July or August. Early in 

 the season, the fleets are usually concentrated south of 

 the western and central Aleutian Islands, frequently near 

 the provisional hne. After a few weeks, they begin 

 dispersing into the Bering Sea and westward in the North 

 Pacific Ocean toward the Soviet coast. By late in the 

 season, the fleets are well scattered in these areas. The 

 number of vessels increased from 3 factory ships and 57 



catcher vessels in 1952 to 16 factory ships and 506 

 catcher vessels by 1956 and then decreased to 1 1 factory 

 ships and 369 catcher vessels by 1962— a level that has 

 been maintained since. The annual catch increased from 

 2.0 million salmon in 1952 to a peak of 60.3 million in 

 1957 and by 1966 had decreased to 19.2 million (table 

 5). 



Japanese salmon factory ship with gill net vessels alongside. Each 

 day a fleet of about 30 gill net vessels delivers its catch to a 

 factory ship for processing. 



13 



