Most of this northern catch was normally exported; one estimate 
places the export at 65 to 70 percent of the production, the remaining 
30 to 35 percent “being for domestic consumption. Approximately one- 
fourth to one-third of Japan* s prewar fishery exports are reported to 
originate in these fisheries. 
The northern fisheries provided employment, full or part-time, 
for about 40,000 - 50,000 persons. Most of these were seasonal workers 
recruited from the small faiming-fishing villages of northern Honshu and 
Hokkaido. From April or May until September they fished or processed 
fish in the northern areas and then returned to eke out a meager living 
from the desolate land and the coastal waters of their home districts. 
Hakodate and Otaru in Hokkaido were the bases of operations for 
the northern fisheries, the ports from which the fishing and supply 
vessels sailed and at which there were facilities for shipbuilding and 
ship repairing, can manufacturing and storage. Hakodate was also the 
main export point for the canned products. 
The northern fisheries are controlled by N big business." At one 
time more than a hundred small firms were operating in these areas but 
after successive mergers over a period of years most of the operations 
by 1939 had come under two large companies: the Nichlro Gyogo X. X, 
which had virtually a monopoly over the fishing in Soviet waters and 
also operated in the northern Xuriles; and the Nippon Suisan which 
operated the crab canneries and also the trawl fisheries off the Xuriles 
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