44 



COMMEECIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 10 



The 15 3 -foot Tuna Clipper luqoatlantik which is first of 3 U, S, - 



style Yugoslavian tuna vessels to arrive in West African waters. 



(Photo by Regional Fisheries Attache) 



The Yugoslavs plan to land the catches of 

 the 3 tuna vessels at Abidjan, Monrovia, 

 Freetown, and Dakar- -depending on which 

 port is closer to area of operations. (U. S. 

 Embassy, Abidjan.) 



ASIA 



Japan 



FROZEN TUNA EXPORTS TO U. S. RISE 



The Japan Frozen Foods Exporters Asso- 

 ciation reports that 35,595 short tons of fro- 

 zen tuna were exported to the United States 

 April-June 1966--compared to 32,782 tons 

 for the same period in 1965. Exports of tuna 

 to overseas bases, such as American Samoa, 

 increased substantially from 1,990 short tons 

 in 1965 to 6,293 tons in 1966. ( Suisan Tsu - 

 shin.) 



Japanese Frozen Tuna Exports, April-June 1966 | 



Type 



U.S. 



Overseas 

 Bases 



Other 

 Countries 



Total 



Tuna: 



Albacorei' 



Yellowfin?/ 



Bigeye^'. ...••••« 



. (Sho 



13,544 



15,574 



1,218 



3,816 



rt Tons) . 



3,944 



1,925 



417 



7 



. (Metric 



1,404 



7,249 



3,804 



276 



458 



Tons) . 



17,266 



23,121 



5,287 



3,743 



458 



Skipjack^/ 



Bluefin£/ 



Loins. 



1,443 



. 



- 



1,309 



Total Apr. -June 1966. . . 



3S;59S 



6,293 



15,191 



51. 1S4 



Total Apr. -June 1965 . . . 



32,782 



1,990 



19,202 



50, 5*40 



1/ Round fish. 



ZyGilled and gutted, dressed, and fillets. 



jfi ^ 'r ™ ^ 



ALBACORE SEASON POOR, 

 SKIPJACK EXCELLENT 



The 1966 summer pole-and-line albacore 

 tuna fishery ended poorly as predicted. The 

 season's landings were a low 18,000 metric 

 tons through June. Total landings are actual- 

 ly less because the 18,000 figure includes 

 3,000 tons of "spring albacore" taken far off- 

 shore (mainly east of 145° E. longitude be- 

 tween 320-350 N. latitude) in March and April 

 before the summer fishery started. Landings 

 were 42,000 tons in 1965, 24,000 in 1964, and 

 26,000 in 1963. 



The short supply of albacore pushed ex- 

 vessel prices in Japan to a high level. Prices 

 held steady around 171 yen a kilogram(US$431 

 a short ton) compared to the 1965 average 

 price of 102 yen a kilogram ($257 a short ton). 



In contrast, 1966 is an excellent year for 

 skipjack. Landings at the principal tuna port 

 of Yaizu for January-June 1966 totaled 29,048 

 metric tons--16,568 tons more than the 1965 

 catch for the same period. Skipjack fishing 

 off the Sanriku coast (northeastern Japan) was 

 reported very good. It was forecast that the 

 summer catch there may easily exceed 70, 000- 

 80,000 metric tons --far surpassing lastyear's 

 catch of 40,000 tons. ( Suisancho Nippo ; Kat - 

 suo-Maguro Tsushin. and other sources.) 



;c ;: i\< ;;< ;c 



SOUTH KOREA AND TAIWAN 



PACIFIC TUNA CATCH TO TOP JAPAN'S 



South Korea and Formosa will surpass Ja- 

 pan in landings from the Pacific tuna fishing 

 grounds. (Fisheries Attache, U. S. Embassy, 

 Tokyo, from Suisaji Keizai .) 



A survey by the Frozen Tuna Export Asso- 

 ciation produced these figures for 1966: 



Landings of Tuna 



Country 



Japan 



South Korea. 

 Taiwan. . . . 



May 



June 



(Metric Tons) 



10,890 



11,000 



8,000 



11,730 

 12,000 

 10,000 



sic >[< sjc :ffi 



