The first measure for expansion was con- 

 tained in an administrative order from the 

 Fisheries Agency issued in March 1952. This 

 order permitted enlargement of vessels by a 

 combination of free, additional, licensed tonnage 

 and licensed tonnage from decommissioned 

 existing craft. The owner of a Designated Dis- 

 tant Seas craft, i.e., one over 100 tons in size, 

 could build a vessel 40 tons larger than the 

 existing one without withdrawing additional 

 tonnage from another license. If the new vessel 

 were between 40 and 100 tons larger than the 

 original, a 50-ton vessel had to be withdrawn 

 from the fleet; if a new vessel 100-200 tons 

 larger than the original were desired, two 

 50-ton or one 50- to 100-ton vessel had to be 

 withdrawn. A similar system was set up for 

 the "medium-sized" vessels as vessels in the 

 20- to 100-ton category had come to be called. 

 The legal requirement that these craft be less 

 than 100 tons cramped measures to enlarge 

 them but a graduated system of free and de- 

 commissioned tonnage was instituted. Any 

 vessel could be enlarged up to 10 tons with 

 no restriction but half of any enlargement 

 over this had to come from vessels withdrawn 

 from the fleet. Any permitted enlargement as- 

 sumed, of course, that the new vessel was to 

 be less than 100 tons in size. This technique 

 of granting limited free tonnage, to be com- 

 bined with tonnage withdrawn from other 

 vessels, became integral to the regulatory sys- 

 tem during the ensuing decade. 



The March 1952 measure was inadequate 

 to meet pressures for enlargment of vessels 

 in the existing fleet and did nothing to meet 

 pressure to permit additional entry. This latter 

 pressure was especially strong from fishermen 

 in the offshore trawl fisheries, the resources 

 for which were judged to be exploited excessive- 

 ly. The expanding tuna fishery appeared to 

 offer an opportunity for relief for these fisheries. 

 The apparent need for additional tuna vessels 

 could be met by permitting transfer to the 

 tuna fishery. 



These conditions led rather rapidly to modi- 

 fication of aspects of the 1949 fisheries law 

 that related to the fishing power of the tuna 

 fleet. The National Diet passed a law that be- 

 came effective in July 1953 and that, for two 

 years, set aside aspects of the 1949 laws that 

 limited the size and number of vessels in the 



fleet. Under the new law, known as the Ex- 

 ceptional Measures Law, craft already in the 

 fleet were divided into four size categories 

 based on their size as of December 1952. Li- 

 censed craft between 20 to 70 tons were per- 

 mitted to go to 100 tons, those between 70 

 and 95 tons to 135 tons, those between 95 and 

 100 tons to 150 tons, and those over 100 tons 

 to enlarge with no limitations. Owners of 

 licenses for the medium-sized craft complained 

 strongly that the permitted increases were not 

 adequate. In April 1954, the upper limits for 70- 

 to 90-ton craft and for 90- to 100-ton craft were 

 rasied to 160 and 180 tons respectively. The 

 2-year moratorium, however, was not extended 

 beyond its original July 1955 termination date. 



Pressure for additional entry was also vented 

 somewhat by the 2-year law. Originally, it 

 permitted issuance of 100 full-time and 240 

 part-time skipjack tuna licenses. This aspect, 

 too, was revised further in April 1954. New 

 licenses were granted for 120 skipjack-tuna 

 craft up to 85 tons in size, for 10 craft be- 

 tween 85 and 100 tons in size, and for 150 

 part-time licenses of less than 85 tons. These 

 licenses were granted to craft owners in cer- 

 tain fisheries deemed to be overcrowded, pri- 

 marily the offshore trawl and purse-seine 

 fisheries. Recipients in all cases had to agree 

 to give up their right to fish in their original 

 fishery and to withdraw their craft from it. 



The Exceptional Measures Law resulted in 

 a much larger and greatly changed fleet. Be- 

 tween December 1953 and December 1955, 

 the number of licensed craft increased from 

 1,154 to 1,372 or 19% ; gross tonnage increased 

 from 112,945 tons to 176,026 tons or 57%; 

 and craft over 100 tons in size increased from 

 290 to 621 (Masuda, 1963, p. 354). The 1950 

 limitation to 300 craft of over 100 tons had 

 obviously been abandoned. 



Fundamental changes had also taken place 

 in the nature of many of the craft. If defined 

 by fishing method, the skipjack-tuna fishery 

 is actually two fisheries, the skipjack live bait 

 pole-and-line fishery and the tuna longline 

 fishery. Historically, the pole-and-line fishery 

 is the older of the two. It developed to exploit 

 the large runs of skipjack and to a lesser 

 extent, albacore, that appear off Japan during 

 the spring and summer months. The longline 



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