Abstract
Ariake Bay has been famous as the green laver culture in Japan, and its development in Fukuoka Prefecture is the most remarkable in the area. Omuta city district, the chief producing centre of the laver, has the industrial area behind it, so it has a peculiar structure of management. In this paper the author reports the results of his own investigations of the culture, Miura Fishermen's Cooperative Association as the object, the association consists of 741 members, of which 420 being green laver farmers.
Green laver culture in Omuta city has made a rapid progress from 1952/53 on, because there are favourable natural conditions, and the positive conversion policy from coastal fishery to shallow sea culture did much toward forming the culture, and it was advantageous to have surplus working population accumulated in the coastal villages by the reduction of the labour market of the industrial city.
As the result of the sharp increase of farmers engaged the shallow sea fit for the culture became relatively narrow, and the water was divided among farmers mainly based on the managing year and past records of each farmers, consequently the marked differentiation of classes were made in the coastal fishermen. Although it may be said that the green laver culture in Japan is generally formed as the side job for winter of the fishermen, here in Omuta city about 40% of the farmers get money as wages by working in factories. On the other hand there are some farmers largely depending upon laver culture itself. Being restricted by the distribution of the laver farms, the following complex and complicated types of income are found out:
A. Green laver and other fishing income only 33.2%
B. Green laver and wages 24.0%
C. Green layer, wages and agricultural income 16.2 %
D. Green laver and agricultural income 22.5%
E. Green laver and others 4.1%
Most of the laver farmers need to employ labourers, and the laver culture is more profitable than agriculture in cash income at least. It is a striking contrast to see the fact that fishermen who do not culture laver scarcely derive income from fishing.
But now, the filthy waters discharged from factories of the chemical industries neighbouring the laver farms, the enlargement of land reclamation by drainage, and the depression by the developing undersea coal mines……, these conditions are seriously making the circumstances of the culture worse than before, and these are the problems to be solved by the future farmers.
