fishery developed as on offseason activity for 

 craft in the former and remained subordinate 

 to it until the end of the Allied Occupation. 

 Equipment and crew requirements for the 

 two bear little similarity. The maximum sized 

 craft that could be used efficiently in the pole- 

 and-line fishery was about 150 tons at the 

 time.'' Live bait wells are an absolute essential 

 for the pole-and-line fishery but are unneces- 

 sary for the longline fishery. Crew size for 

 the former is usually a little more than double 

 that needed for the longline fishery with con- 

 sequent additional space required for quarters. 

 The world market for tuna grew rapidly after 

 World War II and tuna soon provided a higher 

 return than did skipjack. Larger craft could 

 operate year round on the new longline gi'ounds 

 being opened up in the southern Pacific and 

 Indian Oceans. As a consequence, most of the 

 craft built when the Exceptional Measures 

 Law was in effect and afterward were special- 

 ized vessels for the longline fishery only. Lack 

 of a live bait well alone effectively denied 

 their use in the pole-and-line fishery. 



Landings of the fishery increased propor- 

 tionately along with the tonnage of the fleet. 

 Tuna longliners landed 117,000 tons in 1952; 

 in 1955 this had increased to 197,000 tons 

 (Japanese Tuna Fisheries Federation, 1961, 

 p. 16). The value of the landings fell rapidly; 

 the average price of yellowfin tuna at Yaezu, 

 Japan's most important tuna port, dropped 

 from $289 per ton in 1953 to $192 in 1955 

 (Yaezu Fishery Cooperative, 1963, p. 25).'* 

 Lingering effects of the Bikini nuclear weapon 

 incident of 1954 that had greatly reduced de- 

 mand for fresh tuna in Japan accounts in 

 part for the lower price. However, the main 

 reason was excessive supply. The world mar- 

 ket for tuna, limited at the time largely to 

 Japan and the United States, was not able to 

 absorb the added catch at the 1953 price levels. 



The Fisheries Agency policy with the end 

 of the Exceptional Measures Law called for 



=• A vessel of about l.'iO tons is the minimum sized 

 vessel needed to operate from .Japan on the west-central 

 Pacific grounds to which the pole-and-line fishery ex- 

 panded in the mid-lS)60's. In 1967, forty-one vessels in 

 the SOO-.'JOO ton category were used in the newly de- 

 veloped distant seas pole-and-line fishery (Japanese 

 Tuna Fisheries Federation, 1969, p. 13). 



'' Conversions from yen to dollars was made at the 

 rate of 360 to 1. 



absolute restrictions on new entry. However, 

 it did continue the policy of permitting and 

 encouraging enlargement of craft. In a few 

 cases, slight enlargements were permitted 

 without abolishment of licensed craft. The 

 heart of the policy, however, was to permit 

 use of licensed tonnage for medium-sized 

 vessels for combination with other licenses to 

 build larger craft. The net effect of this was 

 to reduce the total number of craft but to in- 

 crease the number of larger craft for operation 

 on distant grounds. The rapid increase in 

 vessels over 200 tons at the expense of those 

 under that size is shown graphically in Figure 

 2. The total number of licensed craft decreased 

 from 1,380 in 1956 to 1,243 in 1957. 



Landings continued to grow at about 50,000 

 tons annually into the early 1960's. The mar- 

 ket also began to recover after the lows of 

 1955 and prices began a steady upward trend. 

 By 1962, the average price of yellowfin at 

 Yaezu had risen to $328. Small fortunes were 

 being made by the end of the decade. It be- 

 came apparent that craft of at least 250 tons 

 in size were needed to operate efficiently from 

 Japan on the south Pacific and Indian Ocean 

 grounds as well as from bases on the newly 

 opened Atlantic grounds. The value of licenses 

 for supplementally tonnage increased rapidlJ^ 

 Supplementary tonnage could be purchased 

 for about $100 per ton in 1955, rose to about 

 $500 in 1959, and in 1960 approached $1,000 

 per ton (Masuda, 1963, p. 556)." In 1960, ad- 

 ditional free tonnage was permitted for craft 

 of less than 240 tons in size if they were 

 wooden craft over 6 years old or steel craft 

 over 12 years. Also, restrictions on the use 

 of the licenses for the less than 100-ton vessels 

 issued after 1953 as supplementary tonnage, 

 licenses that previously could not be used for 

 this purpose, were relaxed. Another building 

 boom was underway and the average size of 

 the vessels in the fleet grew with it (see 

 Figure 3). 



Pressure for additional entry into the tuna 

 fishery, never quiescent, began to rise marked- 

 ly with the rise in profits from the fishery. 

 Pressure was especially strong after 1956 from 



" Precise figures on sale value of licenses are difficult 

 to obtain since profits from their sale is subject to capital 

 gains tax. Underreporting to avoid taxes appears to have 

 been the rule. 



150 



