fishery catch limit of 13,600 tons. Al- 

 ready they have applications for licenses 

 for operations totaling over 25,000 tons. 

 Some of these operations are planned pri- 

 marily to catch bigeye tuna for sausage 

 material. 



In the Atlantic too, the Government is 

 trying to hold the lid down, against con- 

 siderable pressure for expansion. Opera- 

 tions began there in 1956, with only 1 or 2 

 boats working at a time. In 1957 the number 

 of boats operating in any one month rose to 

 a maximum of 20, and in 1958 to 31. There 

 are said to be about that many fishing the 

 Atlantic now, and more would like to go. 

 Plans for this year call for a total of 

 about 60 boats making 2 landings each for 

 the U.S. market. It was earlier reported 

 that a vessel, to fish the Atlantic profit- 

 ably, had to plan on 2 landings for trans- 

 shipment to the U.S., one in a European or 

 South American port, and a fourth trip to 

 be landed at home. I have it on good 

 authority that many owners now are ready 

 to undertake an Atlantic operation for only 

 the two landings for the U.S. and the final 

 trip for landing in Japan. 



What sort of competition is the 

 American fisherman up against in the 

 Japanese longline fishery? It is an opera- 

 tion of extraordinary flexibility and 

 resiliency. California fishermen, by and 

 large, catch yellowfin and skipjack and 

 try to sell them to canneries. They can- 

 not, because of the methods they use, fish 

 far from land. The Japanese carry frozen 

 bait and they can fish literally anywhere. 

 They catch albacore, yellowfin, bigeye, 

 several species of "bluefin" , marlins, and 

 broadbill, many of these species in a rather 

 wide range of sizes. If they bring in 

 frozen or iced small yellowfin and albacore, 

 canners and freezers will bid against each 

 other to get them for export. If they bring 

 in frozen bigeye, large yellowfin, or marlin, 

 the sausage makers are hungry for raw mate- 

 rial. If it is iced bigeye, yellowfin, 

 bluefin, or marlin, the fresh- fish trade 

 takes it as high-grade merchandise. Do not 

 let the limited scope of your own operations 

 make you think of these odd fish as unimpor- 

 tant elements in the catch. Remember, black 

 marlin often brings a better price than 

 yellowfin, striped marlin sells higher than 

 albacore, and bluefin can be more expensive 

 than any of them. The Japanese fisherman 



actually mistrusts a one-species fishing 

 ground — he prefers to spread his risks, 

 in view of the wide fluctuations from day 

 to day in the prices of the several species. 

 The Japanese operator is approaching a stage 

 where he can gauge his market, select his 

 ground for the time of year, and plan his 

 production with a good degree of certainty. 

 For example, if this summer's bait-boat 

 albacore season turns out to be a failure, 

 and the demand is strong, the situation can 

 be remedied to some extent by sending out 

 additional mothership fleets to fish for 

 tropical albacore in the South Pacific and 

 southern Indian Ocean. 



The Japanese can apparently build 

 their boats for a third to a fourth less 

 than the American fisherman, and can man 

 them mostly with young fellows who have 

 few responsibilities ashore and few pros- 

 pects of getting a good job on the beach. 

 The Japanese fisherman can eat for less 

 than 50 cents a day, and the older crew 

 members will sail for a guarantee of around 

 •$30 a month, for that is enough to keep 

 their families alive back in the native 

 village. This makes tough competition for 

 American fishermen. 



I do not mean to imply that the 

 Japanese tuna fisheries do not have their 

 problems. As listed in a recent Japanese 

 Government report, these problems include 

 worries over the extension of jurisdiction 

 by coastal states, the setting up of bomb 

 and missile testing ranges in the middle 

 of the fishing grounds, the threat of com- 

 petition posed by Korean boats entering the 

 Samoan fishery and the appearance of a 

 Soviet tuna boat in the Caroline Islands, 

 the appearance of signs of overproduction 

 of skipjack, and the prospect of excess 

 salmon boats entering the tuna fisheries. 

 They also fear that their expansion into 

 Eastern Pacific fishing grounds may bring 

 on trouble with American fishermen, per- 

 haps giving added stimulus to boycott, 

 embargo, and tariff -raising movements, 

 which are, of course, what they fear most 

 of all. Their worries, as listed in this 

 report, do not appear to include a fear 

 that American fishermen will produce tuna 

 so cheaply as to drive them out of business. 



I should like to mention another minor 

 advantage that the Japanese tuna fisherman 

 has. His national and local governments 



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