64 



COMMEECIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 8 



Japan (Contd.): 



Mothership-type trawlers: 241: 25 mother- 

 ships and 216 catcher boats (228) 



Large and medium purse seiners; 635 (697) 



Large whalers: 17 (22) 



Small whalers: 22 (19) 



Mothership-type whalers: 125: 10 mother- 

 ships and 115 catcher boats (122) 



Pelagic tuna-fishing vessels: 1,301 (1,315) 



Near-sea tuna vessels: 1,687 (1,705) 



Mothership-type tuna vessels with skiffs 

 carried thereon: 181: 51 motherships and 

 130 skiffs (174) 



Mothership with catcher boat-type vessels: 

 168: 3 motherships and 165 catcher boats 

 (167) 



Medium salmon drift -netters: 320 (317) 



Medium salmon long-liners: 369 (369) 



Mothership-type salmon vessels: 380: 11 

 motherships and 369 catcher boats (380) 



Mothership-type crab vessels: 91: 6 mother- 

 ships, 26 catcher boats and 59 skiffs (89) 



(Fisheries Attache, United States Embassy, 

 Tokyo, from Suisancho Nippo, June 21, 1966.) 



INDUSTRY SUBMITS 

 RECOMMENDATIONS ON FUR SEALS: 



The Japan Fisheries Society on June 18, 

 1966, subnaitted to the Government industry's 

 views on the harvesting and processing of fur 

 seals and related studies. The Society made 

 the following statements and recommendations: 



1 . The raw seal skins Japan sent to the 

 United States firm in 196 5 for processing 

 were found to be somewhat unsatisfactory. 

 Every possible step must be taken in 1966 to 

 improve fur-seal harvesting and curing meth- 

 ods. In 1967, the International Fur Seal Com- 

 mission is scheduled to study research and 

 development work conducted in 1965-66 to 

 improve the quality of seal skins. The Com- 

 mission's findings will have a vital bearing 

 on the revision of the present Convention, so 

 Japan must carefully study this matter in 

 order to achieve her original objectives. For 

 the 1966 annual meeting, Japan should send a 

 group of biologists and seal-skin experts as 

 advisors to the Government delegation. 



2. Concerning research and development 

 work, the Soviets are said to be operating a 

 new efficient research vessel to study ma- 

 rine animals. It is known that the quality of 

 skins taken at sea is superior to those taken 



on land, so Japan should proceed to build a spe - 

 cial research vessel to thoroughly study meth- 

 ods of harvesting fur seals with minimum dam- 

 age to their skins. 



The behavior of the Pribilof herd (partic- 

 ularly females) in recent years deserves close 

 study. Furthermore, the investigationof the 

 herds on the Robben and Komandorskie Islands 

 is also lagging, so the scientists of the countries 

 concerned should jointly undertake studies on 

 those herds. Salmon fishing grounds should 

 also be investigated to explore possibilities 

 of dealing with fur-seal predation which is 

 causing extensive damage to the salmon fish- 

 ery. 



3. The Japanese Agriculture and Forestry 

 Ministry's revenue from fur seal sales since 

 1958, totaling around 200 million yen 

 (US$555,000) annually, should be spent on the 

 forgoing research and development work as 

 well as on the promotion of the fur-seal proc- 

 essing industry. (Suisan Tsushin , June 20, 

 Suisancho Nippo, June 21, 1966.) 



GOVERNMENT TO COMPENSATE 

 OWNERS OF SEIZED VESSELS: 



On June 13, 1966, the Fisheries Agency 

 published a list of 214 vessels seized by the 

 Republic of South Korea that have been judged 

 to be eligible for government compensation 

 totaling about 2,650 million yen (US$7.4 mil- 

 lion). The 214 vessel owners will be com- 

 pensated as follows: vessels 920 millionyen 

 ($2.6 million); cargo 570 million yen ($1.6 

 million); administrative expenses 160 million 

 yen ($0.4 million); loss of fishing time 100 

 million yen ($0.3 million). The 3,900 crew 

 members that sailed on the seized vessels 

 will receive financial assistance totaling 850 

 millionyen ($2.4 million). Small and medium 

 vessel owners and all crew members will be 

 exempt from paying tax on their compensation. 

 However, the major fishing companies will 

 have to pay a partial tax. ( Suisan Keizai 

 Shimbun, June 15, 1966.) 



UTILIZATION OF SAURY IN 196 5: 



A survey made by the Japanese Fisheries 

 Agency on the utilization of saury in 1965 

 showed that over half (56.9 percent) of the 

 total catch of 229,694 metric tons was frozen, 

 17.8 percent consumed fresh, and 11.3 per- 

 cent canned. Of the total of 130,784 tons of 



