reasons they probably cannot be operated as large-scale individual enter- 

 prises nor by persons who wish to make a quick profit. The species which 

 are the object of the fisheries of which I have been writing, and particu- 

 larly of the tuna fishery, are, as set forth at the beginning of this 

 section, distributed evenly over a wide expanse of ocean from Africa on 

 the west, southern Hawaii and the Americas on the east, and eastern 

 Australia and New Caledonia on the south„ When a world market is developed 

 for processed products from these fisheries (a problem which the Ministry 

 of Agriculture and Forestry and others have under study at present), it 

 is clearer than daylight that entrepreneurs will flock into the fieldo 

 A point to be considered here is that after the China Incident many 

 Japanese will emigrate to China and there will be a possibility of export- 

 ing suitable processed fisheries products to the Continent„ For this 

 reason I believe that the real exploitation of this field will not appear 

 until two or three years have passed„ 



The fishery for sharks by pearling boats during the off-season, which 

 is being carried on at present and which has recently been loudly advo- 

 cated, is thought probably to be profitable when only the sharks of the 

 shore waters near the base of operations are fished, but I have doubts 

 as to whether it can be carried on when operations are extended into more 

 distant waters. The reason for this is that even in the case of sharks 

 there are such things as fishing seasons and good fishing grounds. This 

 fishery must either be run in conjunction Tvith the tuna longline fishery, 

 or else further study must be made with regard to fishing methods. 



Finally we come to the skipjack fishery, which at present is on a 

 com.paratively solid basis as the fishery par excellence of the South Seas. 

 The skipjack fishery based in the islands is, for a number of reasons, 

 thought to be probably limited to a certain fixed level of ex??ansion„ 

 As noted elsewhere in this report, it is thought that an industry three 

 times the size of the present one would probably have reached the satura- 

 tion pointo 



4.. The principal problems arising froir: the handling and transportation of 

 the catch 



The procedure to be followed in handling the fish themselves has 

 already been outlined. What I want to take up here is the problem of 

 transports tion. Since these waters are far from Japan and from consumer 

 markets in foreign countries, a suitable base of operations must be 

 sought. I have a plan of my own concerning this miatter, and after further 

 examining it for some time I wish to present it to my readers for their 

 criticism. If so-called tenders are not used, the largest possible trans- 

 port vessels should be employed, preferably ships over 500 tons. 



5. The principal general problems 



A. The problem of food for the crews 



Because of the high temperatures which prevail everywhere in the 

 area there is an abimdance of delicious fruit; hov;ever, it is impossible 

 to raise vegetables in many places because of the lack of good soil. 

 Since vegetables are the most impoi tant staple food in the crew's diet, 

 vessels going to such areas must make preparations in advance to avoid 

 spoilage. Some kinds of suitable produce can probably be obtained in 

 each area. 



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