PAPERS ON THE ECONOMICS OP THE JAPANESE TUNA LONGLINE FISHERY 



Translator's note o —The following material consists 

 of translations and abstracts of articles appearing in 

 Japanese trade journals from l&y 1948 to January 1951c 

 These articles were written by officers of the Japan Tuna 

 Boat Owners' Association and are intended to show that 

 under the price-control system in force in Japan from liarch 

 1946 to April 1950 the tuna fishermen were unable to make 

 any money because ceiling prices on fish were set too low 

 and material costs were too higho The opinions and figures 

 presented cannot be considered unbiased, but it is thought 

 that they may be of interest as affording an insight into 

 the general order of magnitude of certain categories of 

 costs in the Japanese tuna-fishing industry^ An effort has 

 been made to correct certain figures where they were obvious 

 typographical errors or mistakes in calculation^ bur there 

 remain a number of discrepancies which cajinot be explained 

 by the data supplied in the paperso These have been noted 

 where they occuro Figures have been converted from 

 Japanese units at the rates of 8^27 pounds to the kan and 

 |1 to each 360 yeuo "" 



THE CALCULATION OF THE FIRST COST PRICE IN THE TUNA FISHERY 



By Takuzo Nakayama 



Foreword 



How should the proper price for fisheries products be determined? 

 This should have been settled before price control was first applied to 

 fisheries products, but the question still has not been answered, although 

 several corrections have been made since the ceiling prices were set, 

 and it is an undeniable fact that this situation is interfering with 

 increased fish productiono Of course^ the calculation of proper fish 

 prices in a controlled economy and in the face of inflation is very 

 difficulty and although a standard has been established, because it is 

 influenced by the pre-existing price structure^, the amendments hitherto 

 have not gone beyond parity with general prices and thus have simply 

 postponed the solution of the problemo What is needed more than any- 

 thing else in the fishing business today is stability of fish prices, 

 and no matter how troublesome or irrational the price system, it must 

 begin from the calculation of "cost prices in actual operationso 



Of course, I have my own opinions about controlling the price of 

 fish, the value of which varies depending on its freshnessc Furthermore, 

 the cost price of xhe same species of fish may differ depending on xhe 

 method by which it was captured (today emphasis should be placed on 



15 



