Tuna Ship Coming From Japan

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32059, 6 August 1969, Page 14

Tuna Ship Coming From Japan

The joint Japanese-New Zealand fishing company, Taimoana Fisheries (NJZ.), Ltd, plans to bring a boat from Japan at the end of October to catch tuna and other surfaceswimming fish off the New Zealand coast.

Mr H. Ishihara, the Christ-ehurch-based Japanese director of the company, said yesterday that the 275-ton boat

would be brought out for an exploratory venture. It would fish for skipjac tuna, kahawai, barracuda and trevalli both inside and outside New Zealand territorial waters. Mr Ishihara said that kahawai, trevalli and barracuda would be canned and the tuna would be frozen for ship-

meat to Japan. "There is a big market in Japan and the United States for these fish,” he said. Early next month an expert on pelagic fishing would come to New Zealand for preliminary investigations, in co-oper-ation with the Marine Department

The company already has a 300-ton trawler, the Taimoana I. which is registered at Bluff. She arrived at Lyttelton from Japan in November, 1967, but was laid up and the crew paid off in September last year because of poor catches. Since then, the latest crayfishing equipment has been sent from Japan and the Taimoana I has been erayfishing at the Chathams with 400 pots for the last month. The pots are located by sonar bouys attached to long lines. But the Taimoana I has sig-

nailed New Zealand that her freezers have broken down and she is making urgently for home. She is expected on Friday, but it was not known yesterday what port she was making for. Mr A. G. Williams, chairman of directors of the Taimoana company, said last evening that the trawler’s operations at the Chathams, and previously off South Westland, were mainly experimental. “I wouldn’t say that she’s been doing particularly well at the Chathams,” he said.