organizations which enter into all phases of the economic life of 
the fi she men (see pages 172-177)* 
The coastal waters have been worked intensively for a long 
period of time. Gradual depletion has been reported, and locally 
special restrictions have been imposed in order to prevent further 
diminution of these resources. The coastal waters of Hokkaido and 
northern Honshu are considered less depleted than those of other 
parts of Japan proper. 
Methods and Gear of Coastal Fisheries . Japan* s coastal 
fishing industry in innediate prewar years was a curious combination 
of old, time-honored indigenous methods and some of the most modem 
methods and equipment used anywhere in the world. Although the deep- 
sea techniques and such of the gear employed in the northern fisheries 
generally paralleled those of Western countries, included in the large 
assortment of gear used in the coastal fisheries were nets and traps 
of types unfamiliar in the United States and Europe. The complexity 
of techniques in the coastal fisheries was greatest in southern Japan. 
Here long settlement had permitted the development of a multiplicity 
of devices for specialized purposes and there was also a greater number 
of species than in the northern waters and fewer of the migratory 
types which could be secured in great masses by relatively simple 
procedures. 
* 
It is not possible in all cases to clearly draw the line between 
/ 
the methods of coastal fishing and those of the deep sea, but the 
- 63 - 
V > 
16-031 P87 
