Specified Skills
Educational Textbook for the Fishing Industry Skills Proficiency
Test (Fishing)(General Fishing Section)

Japan Fisheries Association(First Edition: December 2019)Table of Contents

1. Global Fishing and Aquaculture Yield ·········································· 1
2. Japan's Fishing and Aquaculture Yield ········································ 2
3. Main Fish Caught in Japan ························································ 4
4. Fishing Vessels ········································································· 7
5. Fishing Vessel Crew ·································································· 8
6. Compasses, Nautical Charts, and Navigation ······························· 9
7. Ocean Currents and Continental Shelves ··································· 12
8. Fishing Terms ········································································ 14
9. Netting Fabric ········································································ 15
10. Rope Knots ··········································································· 19
11. Treatment of Rope Ends ························································· 23
12. Fish Hooks ··········································································· 26
13. Fishing Devices ····································································· 27
14. Fishfinders ··········································································· 36

1. Global Fishing and Aquaculture Yield
The combined global yield of fishing and aquaculture continues to increase.
This combined yield has reached 205.59 million tons (as of 2017), although
the fishing yield from fishing vessels has stayed around the same level since
the second half of the 1980s. The countries with the highest fishing andaquaculture yields, starting with the highest, are China (approximately 80
million tons), Indonesia (approximately 22 million tons), and India(approximately 11.5 million tons).
(Figure 1)
Fishing and Aquaculture Yields (by Country)

China
Indonesia
India
Japan

Figure 1: Fishing and Aquaculture Yields (by Country)(Source: Based on the FY2018 White Paper on Fisheries)

12. Japan's Fishing and Aquaculture Yield
Fishing developed as an industry that widely supplies seafood as animal
protein sources to the people of Japan, and has formed a unique culinary
culture. In addition, fishing, which involves collecting and catching living
creatures underwater, is strongly influenced by natural conditions.
Accordingly, due to the variations in fishing tools used depending on thetargeted species, fishing techniques also vary. Japan’s fishing industry mainly
consists of coastal fishing, offshore fishing, deep-sea fishing, sea aquaculture,and inland fishing and aquaculture. Yields peaked in 1984, then dropped
rapidly until around 1995. A gradual decreasing trend has continued eversince (Fig. 2, Fig. 2-1).

・Coastal fishing
Fishing conducted along the coast using a small fishing vessel. This
includes fixed netting and aquaculture.
・Offshore fishing
Mainly refers to fishing operations carried out in waters within 200
nautical miles of Japan.
・Deep-sea fishing
Mainly refers to fishing operations carried out over 200 nautical miles fromJapan.
・Sea aquaculture
Fishing involving using fish tanks and similar equipment arranged in thesea to artificially raise and catch seafood.

2

・Inland fishing
Fishing conducted in fresh water (rivers and lakes).
・Inland aquaculture
Fishing involving using fish tanks and similar equipment arranged in fresh water(rivers and lakes) to artificially raise and catch seafood.

10,000t

Fishing and Aquaculture Yields in Japan

Inland fishing and aquaculture

Sea aquaculture
Coastal fishing

Offshore fishing
Deep-sea fishing(Year)

Figure 2: Japan's Fishing and Aquaculture Yield(Source: Based on the FY2018 White Paper on Fisheries)

3

にほん

ぎょぎょう

よ うしょくぎょう せいさん

りょう

ねん

Fishing and Aquaculture Yields in Japan (2017)

日本の漁業・養殖業生産量（2017年）
10,000t(まんt)

ないすいめんぎょぎょう・Inland fishing and aquaculture
ようしょくぎょう6

かいめんようしょくぎょう
Sea aquaculture99

えんがんぎょぎょう
Coastal fishing89

おきあいぎょぎょう
Offshore fishing205

えんようぎょぎょう
Deep-sea fishing

31

Figure 2-1: Fishing and Aquaculture Yields in Japan(2017)(Source: Created from FY2018 White Paper on Fisheries)

3. Main Fish Caught in Japan
Japan’s coasts stretch a long distance from north to south, with many warmand cool ocean currents flowing together along them, and various kinds of fish
are caught in the surrounding waters. Different fish species inhabit different
ocean depths. Bonito, sardines, tuna, and sea bass are some of the main
inhabitants near the surface, while crabs, cod, shrimp, and squid, areas are
the most common species near the ocean floor.
Below are some of the main types of fish caught in the oceans off the coastof Japan.

4Monkfish

Herring

CrabAtka mackerel

ShrimpYellowtail

Horse mackerel

MackerelSardineSea bream

5

Halibut

SalmonCod

BonitoTuna

Blowfish

Swordfish

Saury

Spanish mackerel

Squid

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4. Fishing Vessels
FunnelBridgeMast

Stern

Front deck

RudderEngine room

Bow

Fishery warehouse

Propeller

Left sidelight

Port side
Stern light

Port

Stern

Starboard side
Mast light

Front (bow)Right sidelight

Steering
Starboard: steer the rudders to the right
Port: steer the rudders to the left

Colors of navigation lights
Masthead light: white
Stern light: white
Left sidelight: red
Right sidelight: green

Ship swaying
Vertical swaying: pitching
Horizontal swaying: rolling

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Starboard5. Fishing Vessel Crew
Chief fisherman

The person responsible for overall operations. The
captain may double as the chief fisherman.

Captain

The person responsible for navigation of the ship.

Chief engineer

The person responsible for the engine, the refrigeration
system, and other equipment.

Navigation
officer

Assists the captain in performing ship navigation tasks.

Engineer

Assists the chief engineer in managing the machinery.

Chief
operatorradio

Boatswain
Chief
refrigeration

The person responsible for radio communications.
Directs the deckhands.

ofProcesses caught fish and manages the refrigerator(s).

Chief steward(Head cook)Prepares meals for the crew members.

DeckhandConducts ship watches and performs fishing tasks,
refrigeration tasks, and other work.

Engineeringcrew

Performs engine tasks and assists with fishing andrefrigeration tasks.

86. Compasses, Nautical Charts, and Navigation(1) Compasses

Compasses are essential tools that assist in calculating the location of theship and determining the course (route). The main positions are marked withletters of the alphabet.
N: (north)
E: (east)
S: (south)
W: (west)

NE: (northeast)
SE: (southeast)SW (southwest)
NW (northwest)

9(2) Nautical charts
Nautical charts are diagrams with essential information for navigation,such as ocean depth and current direction, written on them.
Nautical charts also describe the characteristics of the seabed.
S: sand, M: mud, R: rocks

Line for 200 meters of ocean depth

The numbers represent ocean

10(3) Navigation

・When a ship is approaching from the front, steer
the rudders to the right to avoid it.

・When a ship is crossing in front, avoid it byeither steering the rudders to the right when
the ship is to the right of your vessel or byslowing down your speed.

・When a ship appears from the left, proceedstraight ahead as this ship will avoid yours.
However, sufficient caution should be taken to
ensure that the other ship correctly avoids
your ship.

・Generally speaking, ships keep to the right.

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7. Ocean Currents and Continental Shelves(1) Ocean currents

Liman Current

Oyashio

Tsushima Current

KuroshioCountercurr

There are four currents which flow in the oceans around Japan: theKuroshio Current and the Tsushima Current, which are warm currents fromthe south, and the Oyashio Current and the Liman Current, which are cold
currents from the north. At the coasts, there are currents which flow in a
direction opposite to the main current of the open sea which are called
countercurrents.

12(2) Continental shelves
The areas around islands and continents are surrounded by shallow seas
called continental shelves. Continental shelves are important locations for acountry, and they are also spots with good fishing grounds.

Land (island)
Sea level
Continental
shelf

Land
(island)SeabedContinental
shelf
Coast

13

8. Fishing Terms
Red tide:A state in which plankton (particularly phytoplankton) are present inexcessive numbers and the color of the water changes to red or brown is calleda red tide. This has a major impact on fishing due to the increased plankton
using large amounts of oxygen in the water, which can cause fish and shellfish
to die due to the plankton becoming stuck in their gills.

Nutrient salt:
Nutrient salt refers to minerals such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), silicon(Si), which are essential for sea life to survive.

Eutrophication:
Eutrophication refers to an excessive increase in minerals such as nitrogen(N), phosphorus (P), and silicon (Si). This state is caused by the disposal ofwater from factories or households which contains an abundance of theseminerals.

Prevention of marine pollution:
The disposal of contaminants such as oil, dirt, plastics, garbage, and fishingequipment no longer in use into the ocean causes water pollution. In order toprevent pollution, disposal of these types of items into the ocean is prohibitedby law.

14

Upwelling current:
An upwelling current refers to water near the ocean floor rising up to thesurface. The water that has risen to the surface has a low temperature and ishigh in nutrient salt. Due to these factors, large quantities of plankton
gathers, which makes the surrounding area a good fishing ground.

Salinity of sea water:This refers to the amount of salt contained in sea water. It is displayed as anumber of grams (‰, per mille) in 1 kg of sea water. Generally, the salinity
of sea water ranges from 33 to 37‰ (33 to 37 g per kg).

9. Netting Fabric(1) Netting fabric structure
Netting fabric is categorized knotted netting and knotless netting
depending on whether there are knots present. Knotted netting is made up offour knots and four legs per mesh (Fig. 3). Knotless netting has anintersecting portion of netting threads in place of the knots. A flat knot slips
out of place easily, while an Englishman's knot tends to stay in place.

Mesh

Knot

Mesh

Leg

Knot

Figure 3: Name for each part of knotted fabric15(2) Methods for tying threads
The simplest and most common tying method is shown in Fig. 4. It
results in an Englishman's knot, which is the same as a sheet bend for a rope.
In the case of threads that tend to slip, a double knot with the ring in (2) ofFig. 4 formed twice is used.

(1)

(3)

(2)

(4)

(5)

Figure 4: Common tying method(3) Direction for connecting netting fabricHana joining (lengthwise direction):
When joining the lengthwise directions together as shown on the left in Fig.
5, the netting threads on the knotted portion of the ends of the netting fabricare one continuous thread. In this case, tie the material with an Englishman's
knot, using a double Englishman’s knot for the first and final knots. Forfishing line, since the knots tends to slip out of place, so tie the thread firmly
using a double Englishman's knot.
Side-joint joining ("yarn over" direction):
When tying in the "yarn over" direction as shown on the right in Fig. 5, tiewith a flat knot, and for the first and final knots, use a double Englishman's
knot. In this case, the threads of the two legs for the knots on the end are notcontinuous, so be sure to tighten by interposing the knots.

16Figure 5: Way of tying netting fabric: hana joining on the left, and side-joint
joining on the right(4) Netting fabric sewing method
There are two main methods of sewing together two pieces of netting fabric:"joining" and "wrap-joining." Joining is a method of sewing together the twopieces of netting fabric with the end knots tied together, while wrap-joining
is simply sewing without tying. Different methods of connecting the twopieces are used, and some examples are "mountain," "mountain-valley," and"valley" methods (Fig. 6).

“Mountain” wrap

“Valley”

wrap

joining (wrappedjoining (wrapped

three times)

three times)“Mountain” joining“Mountain-valley”
joining

Figure 6: Wrap-joining method for sewing netting fabricIn addition, the basic repair methods for regular and crossing repair of torn
netting fabric are as shown below.

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・Regular repairing
Using a thread the same thickness as the netting fabric, conduct a repair
using the same knots and mesh sizes. The sewn portions blend in with thismethod, but the repair process is time-consuming (Fig. 7).

Knot

Mesh

Leg

Figure 7: Regular repairing and netting needle movement

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・Crossing repairing
This is a method of repairing without organizing the area around the torn
netting. The sewn portion stands out, but repairs can be completed more
quickly with this method (Fig. 8).

Figure 8: Crossing repairing and netting needle movement

10. Rope Knots(1) Single knot
This is a simple knot in a basic shape. Once the rope is tightened, this knot
is difficult to untie.

(2)

(1)

19

(3)

(2) Sheet bendThis knot is used when tying the ends of two ropes with the same thickness.
It is an important knot that is used often. The top photos show a single sheet
bend, and the bottom ones show a double sheet bend. In the case of ropes withdifferent thicknesses or ropes that tend to slip, a double sheet bend is used.

(1)

(2)

(1)

(2)

(3)

(3)

(3) Clove hitch
This knot is often used when temporarily tying the end of a rope to a poleshaped object. One example is temporarily tying the rope to a bit or similar
structure on a small ship. It may be difficult to untie once it is tightened.

(1)

(2)

(4)

(5)
20

(3)

(4) Bowline knot
This knot is used for applications such as tying a rope to a bit. It is a safe,
reliable knot. Another reason it is often used on ships is because it is easy tountie. The hand movements differ depending on whether the knot is used todrape the rope over an object or not.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(4)

(5) Reef knot (regular knot or true knot)
This is an important knot used when tying together two ropes of the same
thickness as a temporary measure, such as when repairing cut sections on a
rope.

(1)

(2)

(3)

21

(4)

(6) Anchor knot
This is also called a fisherman's knot, and it is used when tying a rope to the ring ofa small anchor.

(1)

(2)

(4)

(3)

(5)

(7) Cow hitch
This is effective when temporarily slinging the middle of a rope over an
object.

(1)

(2)

22

(3)

11. Treatment of Rope Ends
I. Back splice(1) Separate the strands into "a," "b," and "c."(2) Bring "a" to the front.
(3) Wind "b" around strand "a" starting from the outer side.
(4) Wind "c" around strand "b" starting from the outer side, then insert it into
the ring of "a." This is called a "crown knot."(5) After securely tightening the combined strands, bring each strand aroundand insert them into each of the other strands.
(6) Insert each strand three or more times to finish.
a
b

c

(1)

(4)

(2)

(3)

(5)

(6)

23

II. Eye splice(1) Separate the strands into "a," "b," and "c."(2) Insert "a" into the strands.
(3) Insert strand "b" under the strand into which "a" has been inserted.
(4) Turn the rope over.
(5) Insert "c" into the other strands in the direction of the arrow.
(6), (7) Firmly tighten each of the three strands, then insert them a secondtime.
(8) Insert each strand three or more times to finish.

b

a

c

a

b

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

c

24

III. Short splice(1) Separate the strands for both ropes.
(2) Combine each of the strands.
(3) Insert each of the strands of the rope on the right into the left,(4) for a total of three insertions.
(5) Insert the strands of the other rope three times.
(6) Insert each strand from each of the ropes three or more times to finish.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

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12. Fish Hooks
In Japan, many types of fishing hooks are made and used for different
sizes and species of fish.

Eye

The general structure of a fishing

Insidehook and the names of each part are

Point

as shown in Fig. 9.

Gape
Barb

(Tip)
bend

Stinger
Shank
Length(Rear)
bend

Width

Figure 9: Structure of a fishing hook

(1) Methods for tying a hook onto a snell
The thin thread tied to a fishing hook is called a "snell." It serves the
purpose of connecting the fishing hook to the main line directly or by way of
a branch line. When fishing for fish species with sharp teeth such as parrot
bass, blowfish, or hairtail, a metal wire is used for the snell. In this case, thewire is used for the portion closest to the fishing hook (10 to 30 cm) and fishingline is attached from there, forming a two-part snell for the hook. Two simple
methods of tying which are commonly used to connect a snell to a fishing hook
are shown in Fig. 10.

Figure 10: Simple
tying methods forfishing hooks
Snell knot
26

Fisherman's knot

(2) Methods for tying on a fishing swivel
A fishing swivel is a component that prevents twists from entering
into main lines, branch lines, and snells. In Japanese, large swivels are
generally called a yorimodoshi, and small ones are generally called a sarukan.
Two simple methods for tying a fishing swivel to a fishing line are shown in
Fig. 11.

Palomar knot

Fisherman's knot

Figure 11: Tying method for a fishing swivel

13. Fishing Devices
For modern fishing vessels, mechanization has advanced, allowing for
streamlining through the use of large fishing devices with a small number ofcrew members. Equipment such as derricks, cranes, and capstans are
installed relatively commonly, but the direct fishing devices differ dependingon the type of fishing. Some of the main types are as shown below.

27

Longline fishing(1) Line hauler
A device for hauling in the main line of a longline.

(2) Branch line winder
A device for winding a branch line into a coiled shape.

(3) Line casterA device for casting a longline from aship with a branch line is attached to amain line.

28

Gill net fishing(1) Net hauler
A device for hauling in a gill net. Generally, the float side and the sinker side
are hauled in separately, but they may also be hauled in together in somecases.

(2) Net transfer pipe
A pipe used to transfer a gill net that has been hauled onto the ship to a
storage location on the stern side.

(3) Net carrier for gill net storage locations and netting production.

29

Pole-and-line bonito fishing(1) Sprinkler system
A sprinkler for attracting bonito and causing them to stop in place.

Roundhaul fishing(1) Net hauler
A device that hauls in a roundhaul net.

(2) Purse winch
A wire-winding winch for taking in the net hem of a roundhaul net.

30

(3) Winding davit
A davit that reels in a wire to tighten the net hem.

(4) Net-handling power block
A device that suspends a net hauled using a net hauler and is used for netting
production work.

(5) Sideroller
A rotating, bar-shaped net hauler attached to the ship's side for hauling nets
onto the deck.

31

Trawl net fishing(1) Warp winch
A winch that winds a warp or towrope that draws in a net.

(2) Otter board
A net-spreading board that spreads the mouth of a net.

(3) Net storage area

32

Squid fishing(1) Automatic squid fishing machine
A device that hangs a fishing line with multiple squid fishing implements
attached in the sea and automatically moves up and down to catch squid.

(2) Fish-luring light
A light that lures squid.

Fixed-net fishing(1) Ball roller (catch roller)
A device that hoists netting by enclosing it within two rotating balls, used
when wringing a box net for fixed netting.

33

(2) Rope-winding roller (standing roller)
A roller that winds a hoisting rope attached to netting which is used whenwringing a box net for fixed net fishing.

Basket fishing(1) Line hoister
A device that winds a main line attached to a basket.

Stick-held net fishing(1) Multi-level winding winch
A device that simultaneously winds multiple hoisting net (wires) attached tothe bottom side of nets.

34

(2) Mukaidake (facing bamboo)
A pipe (bamboo pole) for suspending a net.

(3) Fish-luring light pole
A pole with a light attached to it used for luring fish.

35

14. Fishfinders

Surface of sea
School of fish

School of fish
School of fish

SeabedA fish finder is an electronic device that emits an ultrasonic wave which
strikes and reflect off of objects and uses this data to display information suchas the position and size of schools of fish, the ocean depth, and the state of theocean floor in an image. The fishfinder image moves toward the side opposite
the scale (tick marks for depth), so the side with the scale displays the newest
information.
In addition, objects with higher density produce a stronger response whenstruck by the ultrasonic waves. These strong responses are displayed in redor orange, while weak responses are displayed in blue or green. This makes
it possible to judge the amount or size of fish based on the strength (color) of
these responses. Within the image, schools of fish are displayed as cloud-likemasses floating in the air and single fish are displayed with a boomeranglike shape.
Moreover, the layer-shaped response on the top of the image
indicates the surface of the sea. The righthand side of the image has tickmarks which indicate ocean depth and can be used to judge the depth of
responses.

36