The Japanese high seas mothership salmon fishery in the north Pacific Ocean : the economic implications of a loss of INPFC constraints.

• Main Author: Queirolo, Lewis E.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Region 1982
• Subjects: Salmon fisheries > North Pacific Ocean.; Bering Sea; Canada; Pacific
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7289/v5/tm-f/akr-1; https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/12953

The development and eastward expansion of the Japanese High Seas Mothership Salmon fishery in the North Pacific and Bering Sea was responsible for the establishment of the International Convention of the High Seas Fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean. The Convention was, as it remains to date, a tri-national agreement between the United States, Canada, and Japan intended to guarantee the interests of each nation in the fisheries of the North Pacific. The Japanese have had a long history of fishing activities in the region. However, with the advent of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and a 1980 fishery in which Japan acknowledged an exceptionally high interception of North American Chinook salmon, questions have arisen as to the desirability of continued U.S. participation in the Convention. This report attempts to answer this question by examining the potential economic impacts which might be incurred by North American salmon fishermen should the Convention be revoked by the U.S. Utilizing recent historical Japanese catch rates, stock composition and age data, and three possible operational scenarios which Japan might reasonably be expected to undertake absent the Convention's constraints, it appears that, in the worst case, Japanese interceptions of North American salmon could increase to as many as 26.8 million fish annually with a discounted value to the the U.S. fishery of $128.2 million per year.