The Sockeye That Swims Too Far

In the fishing towns of northern Washington State and coastal Alaska, the sockeye salmon is more than just a fish. It is a recurring miracle, a gift of God, the source of steady jobs, paid-up bills, money in the bank, new boats. Each year the local fishing industry scoops up some 6,000,000 of the 2-ft.-long, silver-blue sockeye, which account for 20% of the area's $50 million salmon catch and fetch higher prices than the lower-grade chum and pink salmon. Last week U.S. fishermen bitterly fought a major threat to their prosperity, caused by the aggressiveness of Japanese fishermen and the unusual traveling habits of the sockeye.

Japanese "Piracy." The embarrassing fact is that after they leave their spawning grounds upriver from Alaska's Bristol Bay the sockeye swim farther out to sea than anyone imagined When the U.S., Canada and Japan instituted their North Pacific fisheries treaty in 1953, North American negotiators set 175 degrees west longitude as the eastward limit for Japanese fishermen, confident that no Alaska salmon ventured that far west. But Japa nese fishermen found plenty of sockeye outside the boundary, and marine biologists soon learned the truth: in its life cycle, the sockeye swims out around the Aleutian islands for more than 3,000 miles in an elliptical course that brings it right into Japanese nets. The Japanese have been catching so many that alarmed U.S. conservationists have cut back on sockeye fishing off the U.S. coasts to leave enough fish to spawn.

These developments have incensed U.S. fishermen, who argue that Bristol Bay sockeye are American fish that have been studied and improved with $50 million in U.S. tax money. This year, the U.S. stands to lose more than in the past: the sockeye will number some 27 million, a five-year high. As the fish take the far turn home in the critical first three weeks of this month, the Japanese will probably net up to 7,000,000 of them. Since 12 million must be spared for spawning, this gives U.S. fishermen a chance at less than half the crop. They have reacted by firing off telegrams to Washington calling for a boycott of Japanese products, and protesting Japanese "piracy" by picketing Japanese ships and airline offices. They have also organized an automobile-sticker campaign: "Save our fish. Boycott Japan."

Alaskan Rivers. Washington officials warned that a boycott could have a severe backlash in Japan, which imports more goods from the U.S. each year ($1.9 billion) than it exports to the U.S. ($1.7 billion). The U.S. State Department, noting tactfully that the Japanese are within the letter of the law, also called on Japanese fishermen to show moderation in working their nets. While the controversy continued, more than 200 Japanese catcher boats busily worked on the permissible side of the 175th degree of longitude. On the coast, U.S. fishermen waited anxiously to see how many sockeye would survive the journey back toward their Alaskan spawning grounds in such rivers as the Nushagak, Kvichak, Naknek, Egegik and Ugashik.

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