As Ships Get Older, Shipbuilders Have Disappeared: A Survey on the Age of the Ships for Purse Seine Fishing and Shipbuilders in Nagasaki Prefecture

摘要

The purpose of this study is to describe and understand the age of ships for purse seine fishery in Nagasaki prefecture, Japan. We collected the data by means of fieldwork in September 2008 and applied to the authorities to show us the details of the registration documents. The results show two characteristics concerning the ships. First, the means of the age of the ships is about 20, and they vary depending on their construction material. Second, shipyards that have built such ships have disappeared during the past twenty years. It is likely that technological progress on fishing vessels has not been made for decades and it seems impossible for us to build new fishing vessel for the future.