WORLD TUNA PRODUCTION 

 by 

 Donald R. Johnson i/ 



The United States tuna fishery began in about 1900, and was a minor fishery for 

 many years. After 1920 the production of lightmeat varieties of tuna, particularly skip- 

 jack and yellowfin, increased rapidly. By the 1930*3 a fishery reaching into waters off 

 Central and South America was established (fig. 1) . As is well known to the tuna fishing 

 industry, and as we shall learn more fully in the course of our meeting, the Japanese 

 tuna fishery is the chief competitor of the United States fishery both in supplying the 

 United States consumer and in leading world tuna production. 



The Japanese fishery adjacent to the 

 Home Islands is of great antiquity and ref- 

 erences to fishing long before the era of 

 the power boat can be found in Japanese 

 literature. With the advent of powered 

 boats, the Japanese commenced fishing their 

 local areas more effectively and the supply 

 and demand for tuna in Japan rose accord- 

 ingly. Though the Japanese consume prim- 

 arily light-meat tunas, there has developed 

 a considerable Japanese fishery for albacore 

 for export to the United States. Export of 

 albacore to the United States started in 

 the mid-1920 1 s and was well established by 

 the 1930»s. 



With the increasing demand for tuna 

 products, operations in home waters 

 approached saturation and it became evident 

 that a further increase in production would 

 require exploitation of new fishing grounds. 

 Accordingly, in the 1930' s the Japanese 

 made extensive explorations for new grounds 

 ranging throughout the entire western 

 Pacific Ocean as far east as the Hawaiian 

 Islands, south to the areas around New 

 Guinea and the Dutch East Indies and south- 

 west into the Indian Ocean. The initial 

 expansion was based on live-bait fishing 

 operations and the primary production in 

 the distant areas (Philippines, Dutch East 

 Indies and Mandated Islands) was skipjack. 

 Long-line operations did not begin until 

 the late 1930' s. Exploitation of the mid- 

 Pacific albacore grounds also commenced 



1/ Area Director, Bureau of Commercial 



Fisheries, Terminal Island, California. 



during the 1930' s. The military operations 

 of Japan during the 1930' s and 19ii0's how- 

 ever, arrested this expansion, but it was 

 resumed shortly after World War II ended. 



ALBACORE . SK | P 



---XlBLUEFIN J_ 



\ yELLolfejr 



SKIPJACK 



Figure 1. — Tuna fishing areas in Eastern 

 Pacific Ocean. 



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