to the United Nations. The balance, or 5 percent, was taken by neutral countries and was available to either or both factions. Since that time, however, a number of fisheries formerly under Axis domination have become available to the United Nations. The leading fishery nation of the world is Japan. Its fishing activities extend over the oceans of the world. Japan alone produces about 22 percent of the world catch of fishery products. Before the war, its fishing craft were at our front door in Alaska, off Mexico and off South America, Japan, at the present time, controls a number of the other important world fisheries. Among these are fisheries in China, Chosen, British Malaya, and the Philippines. In all, Japan is estimated to control about 38 percent of the world's fisheries, or a total of about 14 billion pounds. The United States fisheries rank second to those of Japan, but our fisheries, in the main, are carried on close to home. Exceptions are our tuna fleet which operates off Central and South America in the Pacific, our fishery for salmon, halibut, sharks, flounders, and other species off British Columbia. Our New England trawler fleet, which takes a considerable part of its catch on banks off the coasts of Canada, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, and our fishery for red snappers and groupers on Campeche Bank off the West Coast of Mexico. Before the war, about 14 percent of our catch was taken off foreign shores. It is expected that greater use will be made of the known, but yet unexploited, resources of the northern waters of the Atlantic and Pacific in the post-war period. The fishing history of our nation indicates that we have fully exploited only a limited number of the most desirable species. Some outstanding examples of fisheries that could be more fully developed are the practically untouched Alaskan resources other than salmon, herring, and halibut, the trawl fishery off Washington and Oregon, the Pacific Coast anchovy fishery, New England's off-shore trawl fishery, and the menhaden fishery of the Atlantic Coast and Gulf of Mexico. By wise use of our available and potential fisheries, the United States could produce at least as much fish as Japan. Other leading fishery nations are Russia, China, England, and Norway. Ninety-eight percent of the world's fisheries products are taken in the Northern Hemisphere. Most of the world's population is found in this hemisphere and its fisheries have been more fully exploited. It has been reported, however, that there are extensive untouched fishery resources off the coasts of South America. This apparently is true also of other areas in the Southern Hemisphere. The The fisheries of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are almost equally productive. former produces about 48 percent of the 37-billion pound world total, and the latter about 47 percent. Five percent of the catch is taken in the Indian Ocean. The North Pacific accounts for 47 percent of the world production and the North Atlantic for 46 percent. The larger portion of the catch in the Northern Hemisphere is caught north of the Tropic of Cancer in the Temperate Zone. The following tables contain data on the quantity and value of fishery products taken in the various countries and, when available, information on the number of fishermen and fishing craft employed. Data on the fisheries of the various countries have been obtained from consular reports, publications issued by various foreign countries and data collected by Fish and Wildlife Service representatives. In most instances, statistics on the whale and seal fisheries have not been included in the catch figures, and in a number of countries the volume of shellfish taken are likewise omitted. Where data are known to be incomplete, this has been indicated in the tables. In a number of instances, it has been necessary to estimate the volume and value of the fishery. Accordingly, the data shown can be considered only approximately correct. Table II--Fisheries of the World: Fishermen, Fishing Craft, and Production by Principal Countries Country 71,810 4,059,524 98,957 82,368 Fishermen are for 1933. Value estimated. Estimated. 80,835 Quantity does not include shellfish. 24,000 Quantity estimated. 20,000 Estimated. 41,518 Fishermen & craft estimated. Includes salt-water species only. 29,909 40,000 967,252 68,275 Fishermen & craft estimated. 45.537 708 740,514 16,264 Fishermen & craft are for 1943. Value estimated. 8,000 Quantity excludes whales & seals. Value for mfg. products & includes whales & seals. 8,492 Estimated. 26,000 Fishermen estimated. 11,926 Fishermen are for 1941. 10,904 Craft are for 1937. 10,350 Value estimated. 10,544 6,887 80,002 Table III--Fisheries of the World: Fishermen, Fishing Craft, and Production by Continents and Countries Continent and Country Fishermen Fishing North America: of pounds of dollars Canada 1941 63,745 37,708 1,198,865 29,909 1936 390 Barbados( " 1940 1,900 British Honduras 1940 500 Estimated. Costa Rica 1940 1,000 Cuba 1940 15,000 60 Estimated. 1,200 Dominican Republic 1940 1,000 40 Estimated. 28 Estimated. Men & craft for Leeward Is. only. 300 12 Estimated. 3,000 240 Estimated. 3,080 207 Trinidad & Tobago (British) 1940 2,870 948 6,000 600 Estimated. Virgin Islands (British) 1940 200 160 13 (United States) 1940 405 616 49 Colombia 1940 3,500 210 Estimated. French Guiana 1940 1,792 170 Estimated. Peru 1940 6,568 2,404 26,097 365 ... Surinam (Dutch Guiana, 1940 3.748 200 Estimated. 6,677 135 468,557 16,382 Table III--Fisheries of the World: Continent and Country Year Quantity Value Fishermen, Fishing Craft, and Production by Continents and Countries (Cont'd.) Fishermen Fishing Remarks Thousands Thousands 1937 1,822 953 30,822 974 Portugal 1940 36,837 13,630 260,588 11,926 Estimated. The 1942 production reported at 1 billion lbs. Fishermen are for 1941. The 1941 production re- The 1943 production reported at 979 million lbs.,. TOTAL, European countries 11,776,832 396,894 (Table III continued on page 10) |