ABSTRACT
When I joined OES in August 1985, the fisheries office in the bureau alerted me to a serious and growing international fisheries problem: Japan, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), and Taiwan were sending out high-seas fishing fleets that were using extremely long driftnets (12–30 miles in length). A driftnet is generally about 8–15 meters in depth, with floats on the top edge and weights on the bottom. It is allowed to drift for a day, often overnight, before being retrieved and emptied of its catch. Japan had taken the lead in developing these driftnets in the late 1970s.
