The following sequence of events illustrates some of the difficulties we have had; (1) - Of March 31 we read in one of the Tokyo English language news— papers of two fishing vessels that were contaminated. The Embassy called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who reported the following information by telephone: . (a) The Koei Maru, then at the port of Misaki, was at 9 degrees, 22 minutes north, 178 degrees, 19 minutes east on March 1. The surface of the ship was re ading 2443 counts per minute, the catoh 155 counts per mimute and the men 500 counts per minute. ing a decision as t5 their safety. The fish had been impounded await- - ee ‘The Myojiim Maru was at Shiogone. On March 1 it was at 29 degrees, ites north, 177 degrees, 19 minutes east. The surface of the ship was reading 50 to LOO counts per minute, the fish 56 to 84 ccunts per minute, and the crew 40 ta 90 counts per mime. (2) The Embassy infcrmed the Ministry of Welfare of my interest in see- (3) Around noon on April 1 the Foreign Ministry called the Embassy ing the ships and fish and told them a special plane would be available to fly me to the two ports. The Foreign office was requested to arrange for access to the vessels ard waa invited to send whoever they wished to designate with me on this trip. A flight was scheduled for early on the morning of April 2. . and advised that the Mycjiim Maru had left Shiogone that merning, thet its destination was not known, amd that the fish had been disposed of in an unknown manner. The Embassy informed the Foreign Ministry that, this be- ing the case, we would Limit cur trip to Liisaki. (u) At & PM on the aftermoon of April 1 the Frreign Ministry again called to inform the Embassy that the Koei Maru had left the port of Misaki one hour before to dump ita contaminated catch at sea. The Enbassy asked the Foreign Ministry to call the vessel back inasmuch as it was only <sne hour off port but the Japanese stated this could not be accomplished. To sumserise the tuna situation, it is ay beltef that n@ significantly contaminated tuna have arrived in Japan except for the catch from the Pukuryu Wart. Rigercus inspections procedures will undoubtedly disclose certain ‘amounts of low level radicactivity on the surface of the tuna but the significance of this is minimized by the practice of skinning tuna Fricr to camming. In the meantime the tunes market has stabilized and tuna representatives of American tuna interests have informed me that their companies are no longer concerned over the problen. ao 4S