To analyze the economic structure of fishing villages where villagers make their living by fishing, farming and trading, we must investigate not only fishing, but also other activities including farming and trading. But, there have been few such analytic studies of fishing villages in Japan. Not only has a relatively small number of geographers been interested in fishing villages, but even those geographers have paid more attention to the studies of fishing activity itself, which of course is full of fascination and worthy of attention. For the past several years, we have, however, investigated the interrelationships between the physical basis and the economic, social and cultural conditions of Nariu, a pond-net fishing village on the
Wakasa Bay. We plan to complete a monograph on this fishing village eventually, but this paper is a part of our long-range study focusing on the ecocomic lives of the villagers.
Nariu is one of the pound-net fishing villages which dot the promontories in the
Wakasa Bay, which has a typical ria-type coast line. The village is located on the east coast of the northern tip of the
Ôura Peninsula, which encloses the
Maizuru Bay on the east. The village is isolated by the mountainous areas from the urban centers of the district, and is about 20km. from
Higashi Maizuru, a sub-center of the city of
Maizuru. The mountain blocks of the
Ôura Peninsula are at the late mature stage of the erosion cycle, and therefore are quite formidable.
Nariu has little flat land for cultivation, but its narrow and deep inlet offers prosperous pound-net firhing sites.
The village consists of 20 old families, seven of which date back to the early
Edo period, and 13 families to the middle or late
Edo period. In addition, three families were established in the village after the Second World War. The main economic bases of the villagers are two
ôshiki, or large pound-nets, 24
koteichi, or small pound-nets, plus some 549a. of farm land including 274a. of paddy fields and 156a. of mandarin orchards. The two
ôshiki are operated jointly by the 20 old families on the basis of equal investment and equal labor. Fishing rights are held by the fishermen's cooperative association, of which all of the families are members. Officially speaking, all of the fishing rights of
koteichi nets belong to the association, but in reality, more productive eleven rights are monopolized by the seven oldest families. The thirteen less productive rights are owned jointly by the 13 families settled during the Edo period, and operated individually by each family on a yearly rotation basis. That is, each family will have different fishing grounds each year to ensure an equal chance of catch for every family through the years.
The main spices of fish caught by the
ôshiki nets include young and mature yellowtails, frigate-mackerels, and sea breams. They constitute more than 60-70% in weight and value of the average annual catch of the past ten years. The rest of the catch comes the
koteichi nets including squids, horse mackerels, sardines and other miscellaneous coastal fishes. The total annual catch reaches 120-170 tons, valued at \23-29 million. All the daily hauls are landed first at the village beach front, then sorted, classified and transported to the wholesale fish market in
Nishi Maizuru, a sub-center of the city of
Maizuru. The sales of the fish are consiged to the receipt agency of the Association of Fishermen's Cooperatives. In the recent years, due to the development of highways, the means of transportation of the fish from the village to the wholesale market has changed to a refrigerated truck owned by the village cooperative. Formerly, a boat without refrigeration facilities was used.
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