Effect on Other Fisheries 



One could argue, as was pointed out earlier, 

 that the superior competitive position of the 

 tuna fishery possibly had some adverse effects 

 on other fisheries, primarily in reference to 

 competition for capital. Comparatively high 

 returns to labor in the tuna fishery also gave 

 it a competitive position in this respect. How- 

 ever, labor was not a major problem for any 

 fishery prior to the early 1960's and since 

 labor was generally drawn from families and 

 acquaintances of vessel owners, the tuna fishery 

 appears to have had little effect even on the 

 quality of labor available to other fisheries. 



The overall effect on other fisheries, or at 

 least the administration of them, probably 

 was positive. Since entry was controlled, re- 

 lief could selectively be provided fisheries 

 creating the greatest administrative problems. 

 Certainly the Minister of Foreign Affairs must 

 have been happy to see pressure relieved on 

 the East China Sea and North Pacific Salmon 

 fisheries in light of the adverse reaction of 

 mainland China and the Soviet Union to these 

 fisheries. Had these new licenses for the tuna 

 fishery been placed on open bid, one could 

 hardly have expected fishermen from depressed 

 fisheries to compete for them with any degree 

 of success. 



Effects on other fisheries may be somewhat 

 nebulous and difficult to define with precision, 

 but the effect on the live bait pole-and-line 

 fishery is much clearer. That the two methods. 

 or fisheries if one wishes, were administered 

 as a single fishery meant that expansion of 

 the live bait fishery was neglected for over a 

 decade. Catches by the live bait method did 

 not decline during expansion of the longline 

 fishery, in fact the secular trend was up slight- 

 ly (see Figure 1). However, resources for this 

 fishery were underutilized, a fact known at the 

 time and borne out by the increase in landings 

 since the mid-1960's. Craft of sufficient size 

 to properly exploit this resource and permitted 

 to do so were also the only ones permitted to 

 fish with longlines for tuna. Given the higher 

 rate of return on tuna, the choice of a vessel 

 owner is not difficult to see. That most did 

 specialize in longlining is shown by the fact 

 that the number of licensed craft using the 

 live bait method declined from 737 in 1953 



to 231 in 1961; total tonnage of vessels so 

 used declined from 80,000 tons at the peak to 

 33,000 tons in 1961 (Masuda, 1963, p. 358 and 

 546). 



That the total catch by the live bait method 

 continued to be stable throughout expansion 

 of the tuna longlining can be attributed pri- 

 marily to unlicensed craft, including the "39- 

 tonners" after 1957. These craft were sufficient- 

 ly large to exploit the traditional grounds 

 adjacent to Japan. However, craft of over 100 

 tons in size are needed to exploit the large 

 skipjack resources in more distant southern 

 waters. By 1960, nearly all craft of this size 

 had been rebuilt without live bait wells. With 

 the decline in longline catches, a distant seas 

 live bait fishery developed fairly rapidly. In 

 1964, only 138 craft over 100 tons in size 

 used the live bait method; by 1967, the num- 

 ber had increased to 224 (Japanese Tuna Fish- 

 eries Federation, 1969, p. 13). Had craft using 

 the live bait method been administered sep- 

 arately, it can be assumed that craft would 

 have been available to develop these distant 

 grounds during the 1950's. That this was not 

 done can be regarded as a loss to the national 

 economy during the period. 



Effects on Location of 

 Shoie-Based Activities in Japan 



The regional pattern of economic activities 

 connected with the fishery changed consider- 

 ably during the period of rapid expansion. 

 Fishing ports and the fleet were distributed 

 fairly evenly between the southern tip of the 

 island of Kyushu and the northeastern port 

 of Honshu when the live bait method dominat- 

 ed the fleet's activities. Most of the fleet would 

 gather in the south in early spring to pick 

 up the annual runs of skipjack and to a lesser 

 extent, albacore, and follow them northward 

 along the Pacific Coast until they disappeared 

 in late summer off northeastern Honshu. Land- 

 ings were made at the nearest port, nearly all 

 of which had a dried skipjack stick process- 

 ing industry, the main use for most of the 

 catch. Craft would then be converted for tuna 

 longlining on winter tuna grounds adjacent 

 to Japan. The main market for tuna was in 

 the Tokyo region and catches from the winter 

 fishery were landed at ports in that area. 



155 



