Japan fisheries have caught about 400-500 thousands tons of tuna per year recently-equivalent to 62%-65% of the world's total catch. Tuna fishing plays a major role in total, and, although it had an early origin, it has prospered greatly in recent years. Since the abolition of the McArthur Line in 1952 following World War II, Japanese fishermen built larger boats and expanded their fishing grounds to include the Eastern Pacific, the South Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. This expansion of the industry was due mainly to the following-governmental policy (support and promotion); technical progress; enlargement of the overseas market and of the internal processing market for fish sausage; and the enlarged fishing companies which developed to catch tuna following on World War II.
The chief tuna ports are
Misaki (Kanagawa prefecture),
Yaizu, and
Shimizu (both in Shizuoka prefecture) which together are responsible for 78% of Japan total tuna landing. I can find some facts illustrated in the table of the quantity of tuna landed at each port. While the amount landed in
Misaki was the highest of three until 1954, it has declined in importance since 1957.
Yaizu became pre-eminent in 1955.
Shimizu began to increase after 1957 and left
Misaki behind in 1961. Such changes in the volume of the tuna handled at these ports are caused by certain characteristics of each which reflect the growth of the tuna fishing industry.
Misaki, With its many powerful brokers, was a distributing centre for fish to Edo (Tokyo). Having a good natural harbour and being near to the fishing grounds, this port grew to a large tuna fishing centre particularly after 1928 when the new harbour was constructed and motor-powered boats gathered there. Great fishing companies with head offices in Tokyo, made this port their base for operations.
For this reason, and for the fact that Misaki was not damaged during World War II, it was the first to recover after the war. With the pioneer spirit brought from many old fishing villages before the war, the tuna fishermen expanded their fishing grounds to the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Fishing boats catching tuna in the Atlantic, landed their catch directly to countries on the Atlantic sea-board. This resulted in a decline in the catch handled in Misaki, but, owing to changes in the cost structure of the Atlantic fishing, the boats again returned to Japan leading to an increase in 1966 and following years. However, Misaki handles mainly fresh and has poor facilities for precessing fish-a weak point.
Shimizu is more of a seashore industrial city than a fishing port. Originally it was the main port of the Tokai region, and following on the Meiji period, harbour works were carried out on a large scale, and many great plants were located here. Being near fishing grounds, fishing boats entered the port for landing their catch-mainly albacore with white meat which the Japanese dislike. Canning of the albacore, combining with the orange cultuation near Shimizu, prospered especially after 1928 when the export to U.S.A. commenced. The existence of such industries and the famous ship yards for fishing boats are conditions which favour Shimizu as a tuna-landing port. But the processing of fish is not so prevalent, nor are the brokers so powerful here. Tuna fishing boats of this port are comparatively large, but there are not such a great number.
As long-range fishing became common, and the landing of refrigerated tuna for export increased, Shimizu, of the three ports, became pre-eminent as a trading port. Many foreign trade companies extended their businesses to this port, and controlled many tuna fishing boats by loaning money to them. These companies land refrigerated tuna from fishing boats controlled by them to their own warehouses without passing through the fish market, and they export refrigerated tuna to Europe and North America by liners or their own
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