Sea which is relatively deep, most of the waters bordering Asia from 
Kamchatka to Formosa (Taiwan) are shallow, a condition conducive to pro¬ 
lific marine life. Although the continental shelf around Japan proper 
v 
is not large, within the area of intensive and secondary Japanese 
operations the continental shelf is estimated at approximately 2,000,000 
square miles. 13 / 
It is also of significance that in the waters around Japan ocean 
currents from tropical and polar latitudes converge, for this too creates 
a favorable environment for fish. The warm current, the Kuroshio or 
Japanese Current, coming from the South Seas washes the eastern coast of 
Kyushu, Shikoku and southern Honshu then flows northeastward to central 
Honslai where it changes its direction to the east. A branch stream of the 
warm Kuroshio enters the Japan Sea by way of Tusima Strait, washes the 
Japan Sea coast and partly reaches eastern Karafuto and Sakhalin by way 
of the west coast of Hokkaido, entering the Okhotsk Sea through Soya Strait. 
The cold Oyashio Current flows south from Bering Sea along the Kurile 
Islands and washing the east coast of Hokkaido, approaches the northeastern 
coast of the mainland of Japan to meet the warm Kuroshio. In the Japan 
Sea a cold current (Liman Current) which flows westward along the coast 
of Soviet Russia continues southward along the Korean coast to meet warm 
currents in Tusima Strait. 
The areas of marked convergence, and therefore of the mixing of 
unlike waters, have the most abundant plankton and marine life. The 
13/ Japan*s Fisheries Industry 1939 (Special issue of the Japan Times 
and kail, 1939) 
- 24 - 
16-031 P45 bu 
