Tables 19 to 22 summarize the production, the number of vessels 
and the methods used in deep-sea fishing in home waters in recent years. 
Production in 1938 was 788,000 metric tons for the operation of more 
than 8,800 vessels with crews totaling more than 113,000. Sardines made 
up more than a quarter of the catch by volume and bonito, tuna and cod 
were taken in large quantities'. Landings by volume were largest in 
Hokkaido, Chiba, Fukushima, Fukuoka, Yamaguchi and Miyagi prefectures. 
(Table 11). 
Tuna an d Bonito Fishin g constituted one of the 
important fisheries in "home wata's". These fish together accounted for 
more than 135,000 metric tons, annually in prewar years and for them and 
the species which associate with them, Japan operated modem fishing 
vessel9 capable of month-long cruises. 31/ Most of these vessels are 
50 — 200 tons, Diesel powered and have arrangements for cold storage. 
It is estimated that 1,500 to 2,000 deep-sea boats operated in 
the tuna and bonito fishery, most of them based upon ports of eastern 
Japan — Shizuoka, Miyagi, Mie, Kochi, Oita, Kagoshima, Ibaraki, Wakayama 
and Miyazaki prefectures. 
In the winter months some of the larger boats operated in the 
southern tropical waters, shifting northward in the spring and summer as 
these migratory species moved northward. The entire area thus fished 
was enormous, extending from the South Seas northward through the Bonins 
IT Although the description here speaks only of tuna and bonito, 
mackerel, spearfish and swordfish, yellowtail and samma are all taken 
by somewhat similar operations. 
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16-031 P105 bu 
