The f:llowin; soquence of ovents illustratos eomc of tho diffi wo havo hac: (1) On March 31 wo road in onc of the Tokyo Bncliesh language news- 2, pRpers oF two fishing vossels thrxt wore conteminated, The Enbasey callcd the Ministry of Forci-m Affeirs who roportes the following information by tolcpkone: (a) The Koci Maru, then at tho port of Misaki, was at 9 cogrccs, 22 minutes north, 178 acgroce, 19 minutes eset on March 1, The surfacc ef tho ship w-s rencin: 2443 counts per minuto, the catch 155 counts por minuto and the mon 500 counts por minutc, The fish had bocn impounded awaiting a aecision as to thoir safety. (b) The Myojiim Maru wes at Shioconc. On March 1 it was at 29 legrees, 8 ninutcs nerth, 177 cegroes, 19 minutes onset, The surface of the shiv was reacing 50 to 400 counts pur minuto, tho fish 56 to 84 counts yor minute, anc the crew 40 to 90 counte por minuto. (2) Bho Embassy informec the Ministry of Wolfare of my intcrest in eco- inc tho ships anc fish an? told thom a special plane woulc be available to fly me to the two ports, The Forcign Office wre requcetod to arrangc for acccss to the vessels ani was invited to scnc whoevor thoy wisnod to Ccsig-~ nato with me on this trip, Aflight was scho@ulod for carly on the morning of April 2. (3) Around noon on Asril 1 tho Forcign Ministry callod the Embassy anc advisec that the Myojiinm Maru had lcft Shiogonc that morning, thrt ite écstin-tion was not known, anc that th fish hac been disposed of in an unknown mannor, The Embassy informed the Forcicon Ministry that, this beins the case, wo would lirit our trip to Misali, (4) at 4 PM on the aftornoon of April 1 the Foroiem Ministry again called to inform the "mbassy thet the Koci Meru had Ilcft the port of Misalci cne hour before to dump its contaminztcd catch at sca, The Embassy askod the Forcign Ministry to call the vosscl back inesmuch as it was only onc hour off port but the Japancse statccd this could not be accomplishod, To summarize the tuna situction, it is ny belicf that no significantly conteninatce tuna have arrivod in Japan cxcept for the catch from tho Fukuryu Maru, Rigorous inspoctions procedures will undoubtedly ciscloso cortain enounts of low levcl radioactivity on the surface of the tuna but tho ' sisnificence of this is minimizcd by tho practico of skinning tuna prior to canning. In the ncantimo the tuna markct has stabilizod anc tuna represontatives of Amorican tuna intcreste have informcc me that thoir companics arc no longer concorned over the problen,