The fcllowing scquenee of events illustrates sone of tho difficultics wo have haés (1) On Merch 31 we road in cnc of the Tokyo English language news~ parers of two fishing vessels thrt wero conteminsted, The Smbassy callod the Ministry of Forcim Affairs who reported the following inform tion by telcphone: (e) The Koci Maru, then at tho port of Misaki, was at 9 dogrocs, 22 minutes north, 178 acgrees, 19 minutes est on March 1, The surface of the ship wis reading 2443 counts per minute, the catch 155 counts por minuto end the mon 500 counts per minute, The fish had been impounded awaiting a cecision as to thoir s-foty, (>) The Kyojiim Maru wes at Shiogone, On March 1 it was at 29 Zegrees, 8 ninutes north, 177 Cegrecs, 19 minutes cast, The surface of the ship was reacing 50 to 400 counts por minute, the fish 56 to 84 counts por ninute, anc the crew <0 to 90 counts pcr ninute, (2) The Enbassy inforned the Winistry of Wolfere of my intcrest in sec~ ing the ships anc fish an“ told them a spcciel plane woulc be aveilable to fly me to the two ports. Tho Forcign Office w-s requested to arrange for access to the vesscls and was invited to scene whoever they wisheda to cesignate with ne on this trip, of April 2. Aflisht wes schetulod for carly on the morningoe (3) Arouné noon on April 1 tho Foroign Ministry callod the Gnbassyice Sanc. adviseé thet the Myojiim Maru had loft Shiogone that morning, that its* ~ cestin=tion was not known, and that th: fish hac boen disposed of in an | unknown mannor, The Enbassy informed the Foreign Ministry that, this bess wee ele pee oN tee ee. ins the case, wo would lirit our trip to Misaki. an nnerEacaa we woe (4) at 4 PH on the aftcrnoon of April 1 the Forcign Ministry aseein called to inform the Enbassy that the Kooi Maru had left the port of Misaki cne hour before to aump its contaminated catch at sca, The Enba,ssy askod the Foreign Ministry to call the vossel back inasmuch as it wis only one hcur off port but the Japanose state’ this could not be accomplished. To summerize the tuna situ-tion, it is ny belicf that no significantly conteninate2 tuna heave arrivot in Japan cxcept for the catch from the Fukuryu ces anderen tae! a Oe nas Meru, Rigorous inspoctions procecurcs will unioubtedly Cisclose cortein anounts of low icvel radioactivity on the surface of the tuna but the simcnificence of this is ninimizcad by the practice of skinning tuna prior to canning, In the ncantino the tuna market has stabilized anc tuna representatives cf Ancricen tuna interests have informed me thet their compenics are no longer conecrnod over the probicn. NGDOE ARCHIVES ~ FL