ready operating would have been extremely 

 difficult. Certainly it would have added com- 

 plexities to an already overly complex struc- 

 ture that possibly would have caused the 

 entire system to break down. Also, a national 

 law that singled out one fishery for such treat- 

 ment probably would not be acceptable to the 

 lawmaking body. Values of licenses in more 

 stable Japanese fisheries have never reached 

 levels considered to be a problem; to impose 

 controls on these fisheries would create more 

 administrative problems than could possibly 

 be justified by gains resulting from the controls. 

 In short, to have solved this problem, if it was 

 one, in the political arena of Japan or any other 

 country with representative government would 

 have been extremely difficult. Possibly ignoring 

 it was the wiser route to follow. 



The problem of overcapitalization of the 

 world tuna fleets appears to be approaching 

 rapidly if it has not already been reached. 

 The Japanese were able to limit entry to the 

 fishery and maintain economic viability of 

 enterprises in it during the period that they 

 controlled longline technology. Beyond ques- 

 tion, limited entry could also be used to 

 control excessive fishing power and the ex- 

 cessive pressure on world tuna stocks that 

 it is certain to bring. The Japanese experience 

 illustrates many of the problems that would 

 attend the far more complicated problems 



foreseeable in establishment of an international 

 system. It also suggests the benefits, in refer- 

 ence to stock management as well as eco- 

 nomic viability of the fishing enterprise, 

 could be well worth the effort required to 

 establish the system. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Commercial Fisheries Review, Januai-y 1966. Vol. 28, 

 No. l,p. 85. 



Commei'cial Fisheries Review, July 1966. Vol. 28, No. 



7, p. 73. 



Japanese Fisheries Agency. May 8, 1963. Katsuo-Maguro 

 Gyogo, No - 40-ton Munar Gyosen ni Kansuro .Shirgo. 

 p. 6. 



Japanese Tuna Fisheries Federation. 1968. Statistics 

 of the Japanese Tuna Fishery. 



. 1969. Statistics of 



the Japanese Tuna Fishery. 



MASUDA, SHOICHI, ed. 1963. Katsuo-Maguro Soran 



(Skipjack tuna Overview), Tokyo: Suisanska. p. 7.58. 



Yaezu Fishery Cooperative. 1963. Mizuage-daka Tokei, 

 no. 11. 



U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. Febniary 24, 

 1969. Foreign Fishery Information Release 69-7. 



158 



