any other nation. These fishermen used more than 360,000 boats, or 
45 percent of the world’s total number of fishing boats. 
The annual per capita consumption of fish for food in prewar years 
was more than 60 pounds, higher than in any other country. Lacking a 
significant livestock rearing industry Japan's population depended upon 
the fisheries to furnish almost all of their animal protein. Rice and 
fish with some green vegetables and fruit formed the staple diet of the 
population. Marine plants were also an important food item. 
As the statistics cited above indicate, aquatic industries occupied 
a position of far greater importance in Japan than in most countries where 
fishing is looked upon as the poor relation of other much more important 
industries and is overshadowed by them. 
Japanese fishing was largely concentrated in the coastal waters of 
Japan proper and the Pacific waters east of Japan, but operations were also 
carried on in the Tellow Sea, the China Sea, along the coasts of Korea 
(Chosen) and Karafuto (Japanese Sakhalin) and around the margins of the 
Okhotsk Sea. Of lesser importance were fisheries of tropical waters, 
Bering Sea and the Antarctic whaling region. 
Much of the fishing industry, particularly that of the "deep sea", 
was modem large-scale business in which control was centralized in a 
relatively few corporations. The coastal fisheries, however, were largely 
operated by very small units; four-fifths of the fleet in 1938 was still 
composed of small craft less than 5 tons propelled by oars, sails or small 
motors and operating close to shore. 
- 3 - 
16-031 1*21 bu 
