Regional Concentration of the Japanese Skipjack-Tuna Fishery

Abstract

Regional Concentration of the Japanese Skipjack-Tuna Fishery ELMER A. KEEN0 In fisheries, as in other primary industries, the location of the resource is a strong factor in determining the location of economic activities directly related to exploitation. The perishable nature of fish almost dictates a high correlation between the location of á resource and the bases of its exploitation when fisheries technology is at a low level. However, technological developments have weakened greatly the attraction of the resource to the location of shore-based activities ih the more advanced fisheries. This is reflected in the fact that the great post World War II expansion in fisheries grounds and in catch has not led to a dispersion of shore-based activities on anything like a concomitant scale. On the contrary, shore-based activities in the nations that have accounted for much of the post World War II expansion have become concentrated into a relatively smaller number of ports. Japanese fisheries as a whole reflect this trend toward concentration of shore-based activities. Rapid growth occurred after restrictions on fishing areas imposed by the occupation government were removed with the peace treaty in 1952 but was accompanied by stagnation and decline of many small and formerly viable fishery ports located near the fishing grounds. On the other hand, a number of ports more favorably endowed in reference to factors other than proximity to the resource itself became prosperous. The purpose of this paper is to review the changes that took place in the location of * Dr. Keen is an Associate Professor of Geography at San Diego State College, San Diego, California 92115. This article, a portion of the author's doctoral dissertation, was presented at the 1968 meeting of the Association at Bellingham. Much of the data presented herein is based on field work in the major tuna ports of Japan in 1964-1965. 127 128ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC COAST GEOGRAPHERS shore-based activities in the Japanese skipjack-tuna fishery during the postwar period of rapid expansion and to explore the factors that influenced these changes. Shore-based activities as used here will be limited to those activities directly connected with operation of the fishery, that is, with marketing of the catch, resupply of vessels and related activities, and entrepreneural activities connected with ownership and management of the craft. All major activities through which operation of the fishing vessel contribute to the economic base of the fishing ports can be subsumed under these three categories. For convenience of discussion, these will be referred to hereafter as marketing, basing, and management. The Nature of the Fishery and Its Growth The skipjack-tuna fishery is one of the more important Japanese fisheries; among world fisheries it ranks an overwhelming first in catch of tuna and tuna-like species. Landings in 1940, the pre-World War II year of maximum catch, were about 200,000 tons.1 Gradual relaxation by the occupation government of restrictions on use of the main tuna fishing areas to the east and south of Japan and the slow but steady recovery of the Japanese economy resulted in this catch level being attained again by 1951 (see Figure 1 ). Complete removal of restrictions in 1952 led to a rapid growth of fisheries and by the end of the decade, Japanese tuna vessels were dominant in the tuna catch of all the world's oceans. The total catch of the fishery reached 724,365 tons in 1962, the peak production to date and one that appears unlikely to be achieved again. Total catch for years from 1963 through 1966 ranged from 690,000 to 695,000 tons. The fishery employs two distinctly separate methods of fishing. The oldest, and until the late 1940's the most important, is the live bait pole and line method similar to that used in the California tuna fishery in the heyday of the tuna clipper. This developed as the method for exploiting the large runs of skipjack, and to a lesser 1 Japan, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Gyokakuryo Chikunen Tokeihyo, 1912-1958 (Catch Statistics for Successive Years), 1960, pp. 43 and 46. YEARBOOK VOLUME 33 1971 129 eoo 750 TOTAL 3501150 / / -f- / / LONG-LIKE / SUB-FISHERY...