Table 6.— Estimated total number of sockeye salmon destined 



to return to Bristol Bay and the estimated number and 



percentage of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon caught 



by Japanese on the high seas, 1952-66 



The Japanese catch of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon for 

 1952-65 was derived from table 3, page 9 of Ossiander, 1966. 

 The Japanese catch for each year includes the mature fish shown 

 for that year plus the immature fish shown for the previous year. 

 The 1966 catch of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon was taken from 

 page 10 of Ossiander, 1967. The above figures therefore 

 represent the total Japanese catch from each year's Bristol Bay 

 return rather than the annual Japanese catch of Bristol Bay 

 salmon. 



consisting of a factory ship of 7,000 to 11,000 gross 

 tons and 25 to 35 drift gill net fishing vessels of 85 to 95 

 gross tons, is generally assigned one or two blocks in 

 which to fish at any given time. Only one fleet at a time 

 is permitted to fish in a single block or square. 



Each day the catcher boats set and retrieve the gill 

 nets and deliver their catches to their respective factory 

 ships for processing. The drift gill net carried aboard 

 each of the catcher boats is 9.3 miles long. The gill net 

 vessels begin to lay their nets about midafternoon, and 

 generally all gear is in the water by dark. After the gear 

 is set, the vessels return to the leeward end of the nets 

 where they drift until the next morning when the nets 

 are lifted (Neo, 1963). Most of the salmon is canned and 

 some are frozen aboard the factory ships and 

 transported to Japan by cargo and supply ships. Most of 

 the canned salmon is exported, principally to the United 

 Kingdom. 



CHUKCHI SEA SALMON FISHERY 



Japan's fisheries off Alaska were expanded into the 

 Arctic Ocean in 1966. The Fishery Agency licensed one 

 gill net vessel to fish salmon experimentally in the 

 Chukchi Sea. This area is outside the INPFC treaty area 

 and, therefore, Japanese salmon fishing in that area is 

 not subject to the controls of that agreement. 



The fishery began on July 1 when the single vessel 

 arrived in the Chukclti Sea. Weather and sea conditions 

 during July and the first part of August were said to be 

 better than expected and allowed routine fishing. The 

 fishery ended in late August when fishing became less 

 productive, weather and sea conditions deteriorated, and 

 supplies began to run short. The total catch was over 92 

 tons and consisted of almost 99 percent chum salmon. 

 Most of the catch was salted, although a few tons were 

 frozen. 



Salmon being cleaned aboard a Japanese factory ship. After 

 being weighed, the salmon are graded and put into bins. The 

 better quality salmon are frozen whole, and the remaining fish 

 are cleaned (gutted and gilled) and canned. 



WHALING 



The Japanese started whaling from shore bases in 

 coastal waters of their home islands. During the rapid 

 industrial growth and expansion of the Japanese 

 economy at the turn of the century, modern whaling 

 techniques, largely developed by the Norwegians, were 

 introduced from Europe. Japanese whaling rapidly 

 expanded in overseas areas, and large expeditions began 

 hunting in the Arctic and the Antarctic in the 1930's. 

 World War II brought a temporary end to Japanese 

 whaling (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1947 and 1948). 



The Japanese resumed whaling in the western North 

 Pacific and western Bering Sea in the 1950's. Two 

 whaling fleets worked progressively east along both sides 

 of the Aleutian Islands in 1959, and in 1962 whaling 

 expanded into the Gulf of Alaska (fig. 9). Each year 

 since then three whaling fleets (each with a factory ship, 

 seven to eight whale killer vessels, and a few support 

 sliips) have operated in the North Pacific Ocean and 

 Bering Sea. The number of whales killed in the North 

 Pacific increased from 3,352 in 1959 to 6,474 in 1966 

 (table 7). 



15 



