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or three years Japan, despite increasing catches, has become a substantial net 
importer of fish, buying what its market demands and selling that for which it 
can get a better price abroad. In the first few years after the war Japanese 
fishermen had difficulty in obtaining fishing bases around the world. In the past 
decade this has substantially changed and much Japanese fishing now works out 
of foreign bases as well as operating in a long-range manner from the home 
islands and in local fisheries out of the home islands. 
From almost any viewpeint the Japanese flag fishing industry, except for total 
volume of catch, is the most broadly based, generally expert, experienced, and 
productive in the world. While operating at high levels of private initiative it 
is integrated at all levels from indivdual fishermen through vessel owners, proc- 
essors, marketers, trading firms, Fishery Agency and Foreign Ministry and 
Ministry of International Trade and Industry in a most effective and generally 
efficient way that renders the industry as a whole most responsive to the vagaries 
of the fish business and innovative to the point of daring in its response to stress. 
(c) China (Mainland).—The production of fish and shellfish in Mainland 
China is unknown within broad range of error. In 1938 it was purportedly a half 
million tons and in 1957 it was rated at 3.3 million short tons. The last reported 
figure was 6.4 million short tons in 1960, but how much this is composed of fish 
and ‘how much of propoganda is uncertain. The bulk of production is purported 
to be from fresh waters and Chinese fishermen do not operate far off shore the 
China mainland. There appears to have been little modernization of ocean fish- 
ing and there is no long range fleet. 
(ad) Russia.—Prior to the middle 1950’s the production of fish by Russia was 
chiefly from internal and coastal waters. It was 1.7 million short tons in 1938, 
1.7 million tons in 1950, and 2.2 million tons in 1953. Beginning about 1954 Rus- 
sia began a solid push toward developing its existing fisheries and extending 
them out into distant waters. Under the pressure of succeeding five year plans 
it has developed its high seas fisheries in a spectacular manner. Without the easy 
availability of enormous coastal resources (as with Peru), or long high seas 
tradition (as with Japan and Norway), or technologically sophisticated indus- 
trial background (as with the United States), or the climatic and socio-economic 
prediliction to pond-raising of fish (as with China), it has forged steadily 
ahead by brute strength, national purpose, and the application of major amount 
of capital and labor to become a major fishing nation of the high seas. Some 
further details are treated below. 
This is a fully State owned enterprise carried out by massive application of 
capital, specialized labor and elaborate planning. It is a fully integrated industry 
beyond the seale even of Japan. It is fully an instrument of national policy. 
Strategically it forms, with naval and merchant marine expansion, a major part 
in the thrust to break out of the encirclement strategy of the free-world coalition 
by obtaining full access to the world through use of the free highways of the 
ocean. Diplomatically it has been an instrument of consequence in the technical 
assistance field. Economically it has filled the internal desire and need for animal 
protein in the Russian diet which could not be filled so quickly or cheaply through 
land based internal animal husbandry. Increasingly it has reduced the necessity 
to spend foreign currency to buy fish (formerly done on a substantial scale from 
Scandinavia and England in particular), and has begun to become a net earner of 
foreign exchange. Hach million ton increase in landings equates to a saving in 
foreign exchange of somewhat more than $200 million. Catches have inclined 
steadily upward to reach a total of 5.8 million short tons in 1966. They are 
scheduled to reach 10 million short tons by 1975, at which time it is anti- 
cipated that they will be yielding $100 million per year in foreign exchange aside 
from their contribution to the domestic nutrition and economy. 
This tremendous tour de force has not arisen out of Russian technology. 
There has been liberal application of foreign exchange to buy the best technology 
from whereever it could be had. Danish, English, and West German shipyards 
produced most of the first classes of high seas vessels, and this purchasing prac- 
tice has since spread to France, Poland, Japan and East Germany in a substan- 
tial manner. Processing machinery and modern instrumentation and gear was 
similarly purchased abroad and adapted to Russian conditions. It is estimated 
that $4 billion was invested in expanding the fish business between 1946 and 
1965. The current five year plan has allocated $3.2 billion for this purpose. 
‘Although high initial dependence was placed upon adaptation of foreign tech- 
nology to Russian fishery needs in these formative years, great emphasis is now 
being given quite successfully to strengthening Russian technology in this field. 
