Roles of Fishing Ports and Communities

in Use and Control of the Sea

S. Sakai
The Japanese Institute on Fishing Ports and Communities, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo,
107 Japan

ABSTRACT
Japan is the island country which is made of 3,900 is-
lands of various sizes. Its sea area is far larger than the
land area. Along the coast there exist about 4,000 ports and
7,000 fishing communities which have taken part in use and
control of the sea through fishery since old times.
These fishing ports and communities have played important
roles in spatial use of the sea, in effective use, maintenance
and control of living resources and in succession of sea
culture.
The aim of this report is to analyze functions of fishing
ports and communities in terms of use and control of the sea
and thus to clarify that in the future fishing ports and com-
munities will have to play more important roles in a system of
use and control of the sea.
1. INTRODUCTION
What is the main reason Japan, which was completely de-
stroyed in W.W. II., has rapidly risen up in the ruins and
become as prosperous as it is today? Not a few people sug-
gest, as one reason, industry and good education of Japanese
people along with uniformity and equality of the race. But
here we should not ignore the fact that Japanese are fish-
eating people.
Japan suffered a serious shortage of food after the war
as a result of the ruined agriculture -food supply from
agriculture is not sufficient even today, though. A lot of
people starved to death after the war. But fortunately Japan
is surrounded by the sea rich in natural resources, from which
people could obtain plenty of food. Japanese people could
gather and eat fish and sea weeds, which were the products of
the resourceful sea, along with scarce agricultural products.
Moreover, marine products contain animal protein of good qual-
ity, vitamins and minerals. It was important those marine
products didn't need any artificial energy.
Another important thing was that fishing ports and commu-
nities were situated allover the country. In result, fishery
was possible almost all along the coast in the country and we
could take great advantage of marine resources.
Today, Japan holds an important position as a worldwide
economic country, and we cannot overlook the role of fishing

W. Kato et al. (eds.), Ocean Space Utilization ’85

© Springer-Verlag Tokyo 1985
 382

ports and communities as a basis of Japan's economic growth.

These ports and communities are efficiently domestic scattered
over the country, supporting food supply as bases of sea food
production, making a great contribution to the well-balanced
growth of the whole nation.
Japan is expected to keep a stable economic growth in the
future. Fishing communities, which face the resourceful sea
and hold good human relations, are expected to increase the
importance as living spaces as well as production bases.
This, therefore, suggest that in the future fishing ports
and communities will play important roles in use and control
of the sea.
2. OUTLINE OF FISHING PORTS AND COMMUNITIES
2-1 Outline of fishing ports
A fishing port is a port used as a base of fisheries.
It provides a well-designed gate way for easy entry and
exit of fishing vessels and has a multiple function, as the
base of fishing activities, such as safe arrival and mooring
of fishing vessels, unloading, preserving and marketing handl-
ing, processing, of fish catches, maintenance and repair of
fishing gears, and offering crew resting places. It also
functions as a center of fishing village for their daily life.
Fishing ports in Japan are classified into three catego-
ries as follows:
(1) Ports to which the Fishing Port Law is applied -about
2,907 ports
(2) Ports to which the Port and Harbour Law is applied and
used by fishing vessels -about 1,000 ports
(3) Anchorages, inlets and seashores which neither law is
applied to, but fishing boats actually use -about 100
Therefore, the number of' ports used as fishing ports is
estimated to be about 4,000.
That is, there exist one fishing port in every eight
kilometers of Japan's sea coast on an average.
The state of activity of fishing ports is shown in Table
1. As to the table, look carefully at the figures related to
small scale coastal fishery which I discuss later.
2-2 Outline of fishing communities
Though fishing communities can be defined various ways,
I here define it rather vaguely as "the communities which are
situated along the coast and inhabited by fishermen and their
families who exercise or administrate fishery right".
There are 6,865 communities such as defined above (1983
Fishery census). Consequently there are, roughly estimated,
4,000 fishing ports and 7,000 fishing communities.
According to Table 2, the characteristics of present
fishing communities can be summarized as follows:
(1) mainly coastal fishery
(2) small scale villages
(3) narrow flatland
(4) faced to open sea; dense villages
2-3 Relations between fishing ports and communities
Fishing communities are, like towns and cities, made up
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Table-l Outline of the Japanese Fisheries (1983)

Items Statistics Unit

Fish Catch (Weight) 11,757 1,000 ton
Fish Catch by Coastal Fishing
included upper (Weight) 3,179 do
Fish Catch (Value) 27,239 100 M¥
Fish Catch by Coastal Fishing
included upper (Value) 12,642 do
Marine Power Vessels (Number) 422,996 vessels
do (Gross Tonnage) 2,855 1,000 G.T.
Marine Power Vessels under
10 G.T included upper(Number) 402,976 vessels
do (Gross Tonnage) 702 1,000 G.T.
Total Fishermen 447 1,000 men
Fishermen engaged in Coastal
Fishing included upper 343 do
Population of Fisherman's
Family 1,308 1,000 men
Fish Meat Plants 1,218 plants
Employee 95,811 men
Products (Value) 19,448 100 M¥

Table-2 Fishing Communities (1976)

Total Major F.C.

Items Fishing Communities Fishermans House Ratio
50% and over
NO % NO %
Total 5 433 100 1 967 ( 36)
Communities
based on Coast- 5,130 75 1,873 75
al Fishing
'V 50 1,336 25 1,028 52
50 'V 100
NO of 100 'V 200 1,335 25 537 23
Houses 200 'V 500 1,256 23 270 14
1,003 18 110 6
500 'V 503 9 22 1
Narrow 3,423 63 1,561 79
Geographical
Condition
Open sea 3,950 73 1,569 80
 384

on the basis of social overhead capital or public spaces.

Among these public spaces the most important one is a fishing
ground. A fishing ground is the space of production which
supports the fishing community, and it has to be used and
managed commonly.
A fishing port is the joint of a fishing ground and a
fishing community.
Usually a fishing ground and a fishing community are
spatially combined, but in some cases they are situated dis-
tantly. Sometimes more than one fishing communities hold a
fishing port in common. In these ways the base of fishing
activities of a fishing community is a fishing port.
The next important thing in the relation between fishing
ports and fishing communities is that a fishing port func-
tions variously as a common space in daily lives of a fishing
community. A fishing port is a precious public property of a
small fishing community and the area around it usually func-
tions as the administrative, economic and cultural center.
Moreover, the open space in a fishing port is used for
various purposes such as a festival of the community and
recreation of inhabitants.
As related above, a fishing port is a common space for
production activity and daily life of a fishing community and
functions as the basis of the social structure of a fishing
community.
By the way, there are some fishing communities which is
scarcely related to fishing ports~ those used only in major
fishing season or those used only as a refuge for fishing
vessels, for example. These are defined as the fishing ports
for use and control of the sea.
3. PRESENT STATE OF USE. AND CONTROL OF THE COASTAL AREA
3-1 Present state of use of the coastal area
Table 3 shows the present state of use of the coastal
water area within 50m depth, in terms of fishery. The figures
in Table 3 are related only to the area used only for fishery

Table-3 Fisheries Use Area in the Coastal Water

Depth O'V 20m 20 'V 50m Total

Items
Area % Area % Area %

TOTAL 29.74 100 50.26 100 80.00 100

Present Use Area 5.41 18 2.22 4 7.63 10
Impossible Use Area 5.62 19 5.14 10 10.76 13

Possible Use Area 18.71 63 42.90 86 61. 61 77

Remarks) "Impossible Use Area" is port areas, channels,

reclamation areas and so on.
 385

such as
(I) the area whose water plane is used by aqua culture or
fixed net fishery
(2) natural or artificial reef ground
(3) the area in which breading and protecting animals and
paInts are intended by releasing seeds and other ways
This table doesn't include the areas used as a route of
large vessels as well as purse seine or trawler.
So it is remarkable that the percentage of the used water
plane amounts to 10. From this we can judge that the water
area along the coast in Japan is already used to a large ex-
tent.
3-2 Fishery right
One of the characteristics of use of the sea in Japan is
the "fishery right" system.
Fishery right is the right entitled to
(I) fishery of space-possession type
(2) fishery of resource control type
on the basis of actual conditions from old times of the use
of coastal fishing grounds by the people living in fishing
communities. The water area where this fishery right exists
covers most of Japan's coastal area with a certain width,
and almost all the bay areas are admitted fishery right.
The caracteristics of fishery right are as follows:
First, as it is the right entitled to public water plane,
Fishery Cooperative Societies, which serves for public inter-
ests, are given priority to be endowed the right.
Secondly, it is the right well protected against inva-
sion. The first point functions to reinforce the sense of
community in fishing communities. The second point is one
of the reasons Japan's fishery has survived against pressure
in spite of the scramble between fishery and other use of the
sea. This also functions to prevent sea pollution and to
preserve marine environment.
There are a variety of fishery in Japan. Other than the
one with fishery right, there are "admission fishery" which
requires admission by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
or the Governor, and "free fishery" which is scarcely regulat-
ed.
Seeing that the right of these kinds of fishery are also
well protected, we can tell that Japan, as a fishing country,
has legally supported fishery since old times.
3-3 Control of the sea by fishery
In order to admit fishery right, a plan of fishery ground
is necessary. The aim of this is to maintain optimum fishing
products from a certain water area by combining several types
of fishing. Consequently, what is regulated in this plan is
total condition of use and control of the sea in terms of
fishery. This regulation includes following articles:
(I) limit of the number and qualification of fishermen
(2) closed fishing ground
(3) closed season
(4) restriction or prohibition of fishing gears and fishing
method
(5) restriction on the size and capacity of fishing vessels
(6) restriction on the size and the sex of fish
 These articles of restriction or prohibition are dis-
cussed in Fishery Cooperative Societies and developed into
detailed plans of use and control of fishing grounds.
Coastal fishermen memorize detailed shapes and names of
the bottom of the sea in the area they have their own fishery
right, and know thoroughly what kinds of living things live
in a certain season.
If something unusual happens there, naturally they find
it immediately.
Recently they release fish seeds to maintain and increase
natural resources. It is no longer a dream that the sea is
used and controlled just like a farm land.
Japan has created "the eco-system in which nature and
human beings coexist" which means fishermen live a stable life
by using and controlling living resources in the sea properly.
4. ROLES OF FISHING PORTS AND COMMUNITIES IN USE AND CONTROL
OF THE SEA
4-1 Use of the sea and fishery
Ways of the use of the sea are classified into four
categories as follows:
(1) use of marine resources
(2) spatial use
(3) cultural use
(4) space for circulation and purification
As for (4), circulations of air and purification of water
have become serious problems recently, but here I explain
relations between fishery and items (1) through (3).
Marine resources include minerals, energy and, of course
living resources. Living resources are very important for
human beings as their food.
As Japanese are fish-eating people, the consumption of
marine products in Japan is very large. A Japanese people
eat 65 kg of marine animals and 6 kg of sea weeds per year
(1982) on an average. Japanese people depend on marine
products for about 44% of their animal protein intake.
What produces these marine products is fishery, and
fishing ports and communities form bases of fishery. In the
near future, developing countries are expected to attach
importance to developing plans of fishery. In that case the
key to success is whether developing plans of fishery and
plans of fishing ports and communities work together.
It should also be noted that marine living resources can
be reproduced by the productivity of the sea itself without
fertilization or cultivation.
It may be said that fishery is an industry of high pro-
ductivity which utilizes nature's power.
As for spatial use, we have already seen that most of
shallow-sea area has already been used, and the depth of the
sea practically used for aqua culture has reached 150m.
Shallow-sea area is the most productive area for fishery, and
on the other hand it is convenient for spatial use. So it is
inevitable that shallow-sea area will be scrambled to be used
in various ways.
Cultural use of the sea is based on fishery. In fishing
ports and communities, people have inherited from old times
their own culture which form foundations of Japan.
 387

To inherit this culture to posterity will lead to the

creation of new culture. In Japan's fishing communities,
there have been a life cycle, that is, younger fishermen join
large fishing vessels and they corne back to coastal fishing
when they grow older. A fishing community is the place older
fishermen keep working and hand down their own culture as
long as they live. We must preserve this tradition.
5. ROLES OF FISHING PORTS AND COMMUNITIES
In this chapter I will sum up the roles of fishing ports
and communities in use and control of the sea.
Firstly, as a result of the fact that a lot of fishing
ports and communities are situated along highly-productive
shallow-sea areas, the followings become possible:
(1) Effective use of the productivity of the sea
(2) supply of a great deal of and a variety of marine
products
(3) delicate control of resources
(4) observation and preservation of marine environment
In addition, as people depending on fishery live even in the
fringe of the country, the followings also become possible:
(1) well-balanced development of the country
(2) sea rescue and prevention of accidents caused by users
of recreational facilities
(3) observation of the national boundaries
What stated above hold good as long as the sea and fishery
exists. In other words, if fishery becomes impossible,
fishing ports and communities will be ruined and the whole
country will be exhausted.
Generally, a project for development of the sea tends to
eliminate fishery as an obstacle. But such tendency is
totally mistaken. It is necessary for a proper project for
development of the sea to be able to coexist with fishery.
It is important not to abolish the use of the sea which is
one of fishery's characteristics, that is, coexisting with
nature, and to put it into a system of developing of the sea.
6. CONCLUSION

The sea is no longer the sea if it is polluted or unfit

for living things to live in.
The sea must be always clean. Fishery cannot exist
without clean water. It is human beings who should keep the
sea clean. Fishing ports and communities are the bases where
fishermen engage in fishery, maintain and control fishing
grounds, and live their lives.
Here I emphasize that to make a proper project for devel-
opment of the sea, it is imperative that coexisting with fish-
ing ports and communities should be regarded as an important
part of the system in a plan of use and control of the sea.