82 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 7 



Japan (Contd.): 



ence of pack-ice which carried away the nets, 

 at times. Most of the nets were later re-' 

 covered. ( Suisan Tsushin, May 6, 1966 and 

 other sources.) 



***** 



VIEWS ON NORTH PACIFIC 

 FISHERIES PROBLEMS: 



With the settlement of the tenth round of 

 Japan-Soviet fisheries under unfavorable 

 terms for the Japanese side, Japanese north- 

 ern Pacific fisheries have entered a period 

 in which the problem of organizational im- 

 provement must be taken up from a long- 

 range point of view. The salmon catch quota 

 has been curtailed to 96,000 metric tons as a 

 result of the negotiations because the Japan- 

 ese side, too, had to recognize the depletion 

 of salmon and salmon-trout resources in the 

 northern Pacific. Moreover, Japan is des- 

 tined to encounter even greater difficulties in 

 1968, which is a lean year for both Japan-So- 

 viet fisheries and American red salmon fish- 

 eries. Because of these circumstances, it 

 has become necessary for the Government 

 and fisheries circles to rebuild the present 

 structure for fishing operations commensur- 

 ate with the depletion of resources and, at 

 the same time, ask for the release of the 

 northeastern Pacific fishing grounds to the 

 Japanese in the negotiations for revision of 

 the Japan-U. S. -Canada Fisheries Treaty, to 

 find an outlet from the aforementioned diffi- 

 culties . 



Salmon fisheries constitute the pillar of 

 the Japanese northern Pacific fisheries based 

 at Hokkaido and Tohoku. Their annual yield 

 arr(_ounts to about 40 billion yen (US$110.5 

 million) in value, and one -half of that amount 

 is exported. As has been revealed in the 

 course of the recent Japan-Soviet fisheries 

 negotiations, however, the salmon in the North- 

 ern Pacific are doubtlessly dwindling. It is 

 necessary for Japan to continue resisting 

 stubbornly the Soviet plan for the distribution 

 of resources. It is also necessary, however, 

 for Japan to establish, as early as possible, 

 countermeasures to cope with the depletion of 

 salmon in the northern Pacific. 



The first problem, which must be taken up 

 for the organizational improvement of north- 

 ern Pacific fisheries, centered on salmon, is 

 to curtail the scale of fishing operations com- 

 mensurate with the depletion of resources. 



The reason is that in the negotiations with the 

 Soviet Union, the Japanese side cannot avoid 

 taking up the problem of curtailing the num- 

 ber of fishing vessels in the northern Pacific. 

 It must be expected that the Soviet side will 

 repeatedly ask Japan for such curtailment in 

 future negotiations. As the Japanese delega- 

 tion to the Japan-Soviet fisheries negotiations 

 asserted, however, it is time for Japan to 

 "make its own decision" on such curtailment. 



The key problem is how to reduce the num- 

 ber of salmon fishing vessels on a rational 

 basis. It is difficult for the Government to 

 pay compensation out of the National Treas- 

 ury to those who will suffer losses from such 

 reduction. In the end it will become neces- 

 sary to make use of the system of simultane- 

 ous renewal of the date and period of fishing 

 licenses, which has first been adopted by the 

 present Fisheries Law (to go into effect in 

 August, 1967), as an important means of re- 

 organizing northern Pacific fisheries. 



The Fisheries Agency is studying meas- 

 ures for such renewal, with the view to ex- 

 panding the scale and improving the organi- 

 zation of fisheries enterprises engaged in 

 bonito, tuna, and mackerel fisheries and east- 

 ern drag-net fisheries (the scale of opera- 

 tions has already been fixed by the Japan-So- 

 viet fisheries treaty for those engaged in 

 salmon and crab fisheries). As for northern 

 Pacific fisheries, there is the growing opinion 

 that the Government should take drastic steps 

 now for the amalgamation of small fisheries 

 enterprises in order to lay the "foundations" 

 for the curtailment of the number of salmon 

 fishing vessels. 



Another important problem which must be 

 solved for the stabilization of northern Pa- 

 cific fisheries centered on salmon is the re- 

 vision of the Japan-U. S. -Canada Fisheries 

 Treaty. It has been the cherished desire of 

 the Japanese concerned with northern Pacific 

 fisheries to revise this "unequal treaty" which 

 bans Japanese fishing for American salmon 

 across the "voluntary restraint line" (absten- 

 tion line) established in the center of the Pa- 

 cific (175° W. longitude). 



While the Japan-Svoiet fisheries treaty 

 permits offshore salmon fisheries, the Ja- 

 pan-U. S. -Canada Fisheries Treaty reflects 

 the viewpoint that "the salmon which are bred 

 in American or Canadian rivers, always be- 

 long to those two countries, regardless of 

 wherever they move." Needless to say, such 



